


Buddyfight - Karras Academy

by GoshdarnRabbit



Category: Future Card Buddyfight
Genre: Card Games, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 20:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 124,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9565244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoshdarnRabbit/pseuds/GoshdarnRabbit
Summary: At another Buddyfighting school a boy is determined to become strong enough to face his estranged sister in a school tournament. Aided by his new friends - a deckbuilder who wishes to learn the science of magic, a spooky girl with a deck straight out of a slasher flick and a bubbly boy obsessed with useless trivia - he sets out on the path to becoming a champion buddyfighter.Featuring a full cast of OCs and some custom cards, including Horror World.





	1. Karras Academy

The Karras Academy For The Study Of Buddyfighting And Buddyology, one of Europe's buddyfighting schools. Founded decades ago in a remote mountain region, a town that came to be known as Academy City sprung up around it. It's not quite as disproportionately successful as Aibo Academy, but it's produced its share of world-class buddyfighters.

* * *

 

Myself? I'm not nearly on that level. I'm not exactly a great buddyfighter, but I got accepted into this school mostly because I already had family here. I'm Timo Zaitsev, 12 years old, Danger World user. It was lunch time, and I was wandering the school grounds like I always did.

I came across a boy seemingly arguing about a chocolate bar with an orange cat with odd blue markings in an egyptian headdress. The boy had short messy dark-blue hair and olive skin. He was wearing an open green blazer over a white polo shirt.

"Are you sure cats should be eating chocolate? Because, fun fact, I know dogs can't." said the boy.

"You know I'm not a cat, Dave! I'm a sphinx! And sphinxes looooove chocolate!" said the strange cat, before grabbing the chocolate bar and happily munching on it.

"Alright, I guess you'd know better than me." said the boy, chuckling. I got the feeling they had this type of conversation a lot.

"Your buddy... that's an Armorknight, isn't it?" I asked.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not right here." said the tiny sphinx, licking his paws clean.

"Oh! Sorry." I said, nodding to him.

"Yeah, Sphinxy here's my buddy." said the boy, lifting up the small Armorknight cat to cradle him in his arms, much to 'Sphinxy's' wriggling protest. "Fun fact, there are sphinxes in Legend World and Dungeon World, too. They're not as cute as this little guy, though."

"You have to buddyfight me!" I blurted out.

Dave cocked his head to one side. "Really? What's this about?"

"S-sorry. It's just... uh, whenever I see someone using Danger World, I have to see how their deck works." I answered. I shouldn't have tried this with him. We were having a friendly conversation before I said that, and...

"Okay, sure. Fun fact, I scarfed down my lunch during math class. That chocolate bar was the last of it."

He's okay with it?

"It's weird to get challenged out of the blue, but hey. Let's take over that basketball court for a while, okay?"

 

* * *

 

"So introductions first, my name's Dave Vervayens, and my buddy here is Sphinxy. He's an Armorknight Sphinx and, fun fact, the one who talked me into switching from Dungeon World." he said, as we stood in the empty basketball court.

"Uh, I'm Timo Zaitsev. I don't have a buddy yet."

"Well, let's get to it, Timo." he said. None of the wandering students nearby had crowded around us - we weren't well-known fighters and a lunchtime buddyfight is a pretty common sight around here. He walked to the opposite side of the court from me, and cleared his throat.

"Sphinx of Black Quartz, judge my vow! Luminize - Riddle Of Bullets!" he said, turning his core deck case into a core gadget - a two-toned cane with a handle curved to resemble a question mark, with the core as the dot and the remainder silver. He pulled his opening hand from the core.

"Luminize - Savage Steel!" I responded. I didn't have a luminize chant yet. I didn't have my own deck or buddy, really, so that's the least of my problems. I had put my trial deck into a multi-purpose core gadget.

"It's time to raise the flag!" we both shouted.

"I'm with Danger World!" I said, holding the flag myself. Danger World. That's how this all got started. It's the same world as her.

"And I'm also with Danger World!" he said. His buddy was standing up on his hind legs to hold the flag in his paws.

"Well, I'm up first, so time to charge and draw!" He flipped a card from his hand to the gauge, and drew from his core gadget. "I'll buddy-call Armorknight Sphinx to the right, and equip Boulder Piercing Spear!" he said, materializing a spear in his hand while his buddy turned into a giant vaguely feline creature festooned with weapons and armor, a pharaoh-like mask over his face. His life went up thanks to the Buddy Gift.

Dave winked, and wagged a finger playfully at me. "But that's not all! I send my spear to the drop zone, equipping my Infinite Armament Dangerous Cradle, then I pay one gauge to put my old spear into the soul of my new weapon!" His spear vanished, replaced with floating four-pointed star surrounded by four slowly-rotating golden circles. His Boulder Piercing Spear was floating in the middle of one circle.

"Fun fact, my Dangerous Cradle gets all the critical of weapons in its soul, so that's two extra crit to my weapon! Here's my direct attack!" he said, leaping forward along with the Dangerous Cradle floating beside him. He pointed his question mark staff at me, and the Boulder Piercing Spear shot out towards me.

"Battle Aura Circle!" I said as I cast a defensive spell, repelling his weapon.

Dave leapt back and shrugged. "Fun fact, we can only attack once on the first turn. So show me what you've got."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]" announced a mechanical voice.

Life/Gauge/Hand  
10/2/5 - 11/2/3

"Draw! Charge... and draw!"

"Sorry to copy you, but I pay three gauge and call Armorknight Black Drake, to the right! And I equip Boulder Piercing Spear!" Like most of the monsters of Danger World the dragon-like robot Black Drake was covered in guns and spiked armor.

"Nice! Black Drake's got 4 crit, so he'll hit like a truck... if he can hit me." Dave added with a wink.

I realized what he was talking about - Armorknight Sphinx had an effect that would stop my attacks if I couldn't beat Dave at rock-paper-scissors. I should defeat Sphinx before risking my size 3 Black Drake's attack doing no damage.

"I call Armorknight Eagle to the left. And I link attack with Eagle against your buddy!" I said, jumping forward with Eagle. We struck at the Sphinx, who reformed when Dave used a spell.

"Cast! Demon Slay Barrier prevents one of my cards from leaving the field. Fun fact, it only works if I'm fighting with an open center position, and that's how I roll!"

"So are you going to attack my buddy again, or take a chance to hit me? Because, fun fact, you can only hit one of us!" he said, twirling his staff idly in one hand.

He was right - I had to go for some kind of damage or I'd never win this.

"...Armorknight Black Drake, attack the fighter!" I said, pointing at my opponent.

Dave pointed his staff at me. "Pop quiz! When I'm attacked, and my little Sphinxy is on the left or right, and I pay 1 gauge, what happens?"

"...We play Rock-Paper-Scissors, and if you win the attack ends?" I answered.

He laughed. "We have a winner! So I pay one gauge, and..."

"Rock!" I yelled as I threw out my fist in the gesture, at the same time as he yelled out "Paper!"

Our respective throws shot out as metal arms, his breaking mine.

"No damage! Better luck next time!" he said with a wink.

_"No damage. Pathetic. You'll never win like that.", she had said._

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
10/0/3 - 11/1/2

"Alright! Time for another round!" he said, putting his hand on his staff core gadget. "Draw! Charge and draw! I cast Battle Training Of Skill And Life, gaining two gauge and one life! Then, I pay one gauge and call Armorknight Jet Fighter to the left!"

The robotic plane appeared. It spoke in a mechanical voice, "Beep boop."

"And since that gauge was a weapon, I can pay one more gauge to add it to my weapon! Demonic Spear Swirling Darkness had three critical, so my Dangerous Cradle now has six!"

"Six?" I said. It was only his second turn and his weapon was strong enough to take me out of the game right now! "That's, uh, a pretty impressive combo."

"Thanks!" he said, giving me a thumbs up. "Anyway, my buddy Armorknight Sphinx attacks your Black Drake!"

_"My buddy, Gael Khan. Crush him.", she had said._

I blinked. No Timo, you've got to focus on this fight. Thinking about her never helps...

My eyes opened wide as I realized the flaw in his plan. "Wait, your buddy only has 5000 attack!" I said.

"Fun fact, each fighter gets to use up to one Counter-speed card effect per battle." said Dave, raising a finger on his left hand. "And the one I'm using now? I cast, Battle Spirit Unite!" he said, holding up a card in his right. "I add all the power of my weapon to my buddy! Which brings him up to 10000 attack power!"

He pointed his core gadget at Armorknight Sphinx, who glowed with energy.

"Rrrrrriddle me this!" yelled Sphinx, rolling the 'r' sound with a purr while he unleashed a hail of gunfire out of the weapons mounted all over his body. He gunned down Black Drake. Even the size 3 monster's impressive defense of 8000 wasn't enough.

Jet Fighter, attack the non-jet fighter!" Dave said with a chuckle.

"Beep boop down with red team." said the plane as it made a flyby attack on me.

"And now it's my turn to attack! Fun fact, my Dangerous Cradle will put you down to two lifepoints if yuou can't stop it!" he said grabbing the star in the middle of his weapon with one of his hands and getting ready to leap at me once more.

"Battle Aura Circle!" I said, negating his attack again.

"Nice!" he said, giving me another thumbs up.

His Dangerous Cradle was already at 6 critical, and it was definitely going to gain more critical next turn. I needed to come up with a plan to stop it, fast.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/0/2 - 12/2/1

"Draw!" I checked the cards in my hand. "Charge, and draw!" Only one gauge, and no draw spells. No defensive ones, either. I could at least try to take out his monsters.

"I pay one gauge to cast Crimson Slash, destroying your Sphinx!" A wave of fire shot out, incinerating the Armorknight.

"I call Armorknight Hellhound to the center!" The tank-like canine appeared in front of me. Hellhound's high defence wouldn't save me if he brought out anything else to link-attack with, or if he had his own Crimson Slash. But closing my center to protect myself was the only real option I had, even if it meant giving up my weapon attack. I couldn't hope to match the Dangerous Cradle he was wielding anyway - like many Danger World decks his strategy seemed to be focused on weapons.

"I'll also call Armorknight Griffin to the right." The last card in my hand, Griffin had no special effects, but it did have high critical and power.

"I move Jetfighter to the center!" he said, as his plane blocked the way

"Hellhound, attack Jetfighter!"

"Hah, talk about dogfights!" Dave said cheerily as my monster devoured his.

"Griffin, attack the fighter! Eagle, attack!" The two flying Armorknights swooped in for their attacks.

"And... that's all." I said. I was out of cards and gauge.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/0/0 - 8/2/1

"Draw! Charge and draw!" said Dave. He grinned.

"I'll go for the big finish!" His weapon had six critical. If he could deal even two more damage on top of that I was done for.

"Looks like this is the end!" he said, twirling his staff in his hand and pointing it at me.

_"This is the end. We're not family any more." she had said. "Not if you're too weak to defeat me."_

"I move straight to final phase!" What? Not even an attack?

"For two gauge, my Drill Bunker impact gives my weapon penetrate, 4000 more power... and an extra two critical!"

He leapt forward, unleashing a barrage of spears from his Dangerous Cradle that punched straight through Hellhound and hit me.

"N-no!" I said, falling to my knees in shock.

"[Winner: Dave Vervayens]"

"So hey, good game." said Dave, holding out a hand to help me up. "You wanna talk?"

 

* * *

 

 

We ended up at a McDonalds. Dave had already ate his lunch, but Sphinxy (sat on the chair next to him) apparently had a bottomless stomach for junk food and was chowing down on my fries. Apparently Dave had history class next, and was confident that he would get away with skipping it if we ran out of time for lunch.

"I've been hearing rumours that there was a kid going around challenging Danger World users, but not really having much success. And, fun fact, I've also heard that The Warlords, the top team in the academy, got a new leader a couple of months back - a Danger World user."

I stared at my burger, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"Bonus round, I hear she has the same last name as you. Zaitsev... that's not a common name around here, right?"

I sighed. "I'll just tell it from the start. My... father is from Russia. He's a chef, uh, his buddy is Armorknight Polar Bear. He has this weird philosophy that you shouldn't cook anything if you couldn't kill it with your bare hands, so he wrestles with Polar Bear every day."

Dave laughed, probably thinking I was joking. "Cool. Fun fact, my dad's a teacher. Used to work for Gaen Corp's expedition team, exploring other worlds, but that work kind of dried up now that we've got better portal tech. Anyway, is it true that the government issues you your buddy in Russia? Because if so I guess he lucked out getting one from Danger World."

"I wouldn't know, I never lived there." I shrugged, and continued my story. "So yeah, he was always disappointed in me. I'm not exactly strong, and I like books too much to ever get along with him. When my parents split up, each of them took one of us. Dad took my big sister, Natasha."

"So you aren't that close because your parents divorced?"

"N-no, actually. We were pretty close - she's a couple of years older than me, and every week she'd take me out somewhere. A library, or a museum, or the zoo." I smiled a little at that. Sure, animals from Earth were interesting, but in a world where the talking cat eating my lunch (who had just started on the burger I had set down) was a common sight it must have sounded a little dorky. "She'd always be laughing and joking, even if the places we were going weren't really her scene."

I looked down. "But... things changed when she got her buddy, a few months ago. That was just after Yamigedo, you know..."

"Right, yeah. Yamigedo."

"That week, she just didn't show up for our trip. And the week after, she had her buddy, Gael Khan."

"Wait, THE Gael Khan?" said Sphinxy in surprise, having finished eating my food. Guess I'll make dinner early tonight. "Big guy, four legs, shouts a lot?"

I was baffled by the underwhelming description. Her buddy was some thirty feet tall, a strange centaur-like dragon with a roar that was outright lethal to other monsters. "Uh, yeah. Emperor Dragon Gael Khan. She had a completely different look on her face, like she was furious all the time. And she said, 'If you still want to be my brother, you have to be able to stand against me in a buddyfight'."

I sighed again.

"I couldn't beat her. I couldn't even scratch her. All I had was the trial deck she had taught me to play with once. And... that was the last time I saw her."

I watched Sphinxy have an exploratory nibble on the toy that came with my meal - some horror movie tie-in, a masked man with a hook for a hand. "And ever since then, I've tried to fight every Danger World player I can, to see if I could have done something differently."

I looked at Dave, and he almost seemed to be on the verge of crying. "That's so sad! I've decided - I'm going to help you become the best buddyfighter you can be, so you can be a family again!"

I was taken aback by the offer. "Uh, I'll figure something out by myself, you don't need to..."

"No, that's a promise! And fun fact, I never go back on my promises!" he interrupted. "So let me tell you what we need - We need to find a deckbuilder and an analyst, and fun fact? I know just the girls for the job." he said, winking.

"And you're going to need a tuner - So that'll be me." he grinned, pointing to himself.


	2. The Magical Scientist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave introduces Timo to his friends - Emily and Eva. Emily, a girl who applies the principles of science to her deckbuilding, is all too happy to show off new decks she wants to test.

Dave had led me up to the rooftop of one of the school buildings, practically bouncing with glee the whole way. The only person here was a pale girl in a frilly black dress, with shoulder-length black hair covering her right eye. She was sitting on a bench, reading a book - a Stephen King novel? From someone in an outfit like that I kind of expected Poe or Lovecraft.

"Hey, Eva! Can I ask you something?"

"No." she said, not looking up from her book.

"Come on, I'll owe you big time?"

"No." she said, turning a page.

"Alright. See you later!" he replied with a cheerful wave. She didn't acknowledge the gesture.

"What was that all about?" I asked as Dave ran ahead to wherever he was going to next and I tried to keep pace.

"Fun fact? That's Eva Friday. Best analyst in our year, if not the whole school. She's amazingly good at picking out the weaknesses in decks, does pretty great at psyching people out when she's playing." he explained, leading us towards the science labs. "She has to be, as her card choice is kind of limited by the world her buddy's from, so if she's not careful anyone can build a deck to completely hose her."

"Her buddy?"

"Ah, I'll explain everything later. We're here - and so is my deckbuilder."

I stopped to catch my breath at the door. "Did we really have to run here?"

"Well, I could have saved some time flying to the roof with my buddy skill for the first part, but... Fun fact, you need a buddy to use that, and it would've been really rude to just leave you standing a few floors down."

"Okay, point taken." I said. "So if Eva's the analyst who's this deckbuilder girl we're going to meet?"

"Here, let me introduce you. Emily Primrose? Timo Zaitsev." he said, pushing forward a girl. She was a slightly chubby girl with her bubblegum-pink hair in a ponytail. She was wearing a labcoat with numerous pockets, and a pair of safety goggles were perched on her forehead.

She held out a hand and I shook it. "Nice to meet you, Timo." she said.

"Likewise."

"Fun fact, Emily and Eva were on a team with me last year - Team Certain Success!" said Dave, clenching a fist in front of himself with a grin.

"We lost in the first round." said Emily, and both of them burst out laughing.

"To be fair I was the only one of us with a buddy." said Dave.

Dave turned to me. "Anyway, Emily's our deckbuilder. Whether or not you want to join our team you can't go wrong with anything she builds."

She fidgeted with her goggles. "I've mostly been building Magic World again. I think I'm close to cracking it."

"What, a new deck?" I asked.

"No, not a deck." she said. "What I'm researching in the labs is magic itself - humans born in Magic World can use magic and become Wizards. I want to find out how to let every human use magic, no matter what world they're from!"

"And if anyone can do it it's her." said Dave, smiling. "She spends most of her time in the school labs studying cards and building decks. Fun fact, she's so far ahead of me in class that half the teachers don't expect her to show up."

She blushed a little. "Sometimes I lose track of time and forget to go to class. So I study extra hard when I do!"

"Anyway, I've got a favor to ask." said Dave. "Have you got a Magic World deck with you?"

 

* * *

 

After Emily spoke with some of the older students (and a giant long-legged owl wearing a crown that I could only assume was someone's buddy monster) we had moved into one of the larger labs which had enough clear floor space to work as a decent fighting stage. Apparently it was intended for studying the effects of buddyfighting in some way, so there were various machines scattered around the outside of the room.

Dave grinned, and turned his core deck case into a staff again. "Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow! Luminize - Riddle Of Bullets!"

"Calibration test number one, begin! Luminize - Five Of A Kind!" said Emily, as her core deck case turned into a wand.

"Raise the flag!"

"Danger World!"

"Magic World!" responded Emily. I noticed she didn't have a visible buddy. Dave must have noticed as well, because he burst out laughing.

"I asked you to play Magic World to show Timo how it normally plays, but okay. Let's see what you've cooked up this time."

"Alright, I'll show you this deck quickly and we can do a real match after. Charge and draw!" she said, waving her wand core gadget around as if she was casting a spell. She smiled. "Great! I got the piece I was missing! I pay three gauge to cast Arcana Flash! Now I show the top five cards of my deck, and for each Actor Knight among them you take one damage!"

A Magician, two Empresses and a Tower brought that total to four. The last card was another Arcana Flash.

"Another burn deck? Oh, and let me guess, literally every card that's not an Arcana Flash is an Actor Knight, right?"

"Got it in one, Dave!" she said as the revealed cards went to the bottom of her deck. "I also call High Priestess to the center and Emperor to the right." A woman in metallic robes and a man who was some kind of golden robot with chicken legs from the neck down appeared.

"Fun fact, those generic cards don't have the stats to match up to anything in my deck."

"Generic cards?" I asked.

"Generic cards are cards that can be used with any flag." said Emily, before enthusiastically launching into an overly detailed description. "In fact the earliest ones, the Chess and Tarot archetypes, were created here on Earth. Chess were created to explore portals to other worlds even before we even had contact with Hero World, and Tarot were created as an attempt to combine the existing technology with Magic World's magic. They're the basis of various fascinating papers about the possibility of artificially creating monsters that are technically native to other worlds, and I could lend you some of those papers if you'd like."

"That does actually sound pretty interesting." I admitted.

"See? I knew you too would get along." said Dave, grinning. " Now, you can nerd out over that later - we've got a game to finish, and I'd be surprised if you haven't figured out your own deck's weakness by now."

"Even showing that this deck isn't viable would be helpful data, so please go ahead." Emily adjusted her goggles. "Emperor, attack the fighter!"

"Sceptre of the king!" said the Emperor, striking with his golden staff.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/2/6 | 10/0/3

"Draw! Charge... and draw! I cast Survival Chance, paying one gauge to draw twice! And I equip Boulder Piercing Spear!" he said, raising a hand as his weapon appeared. "Next, I cast Invigorating Breath, twice! Each heals me for four, minus one for each copy of it already in my dropzone, so I'm up seven lifepoints!"

Emily's eyes widened and she clapped her hands together. "Oh! I see, you've stopped my burn deck by raising your life total to a point I can't even reach! Well played! My normal deck would be able to fall back on direct combat to fill the deficit, but... hmm..."

She took a notebook out of her pocket. "Needs... more... Temperance... and... Devil." she spoke out loud as she wrote, before looking up at us. "Oh, right! The game. I forfeit."

Her life immediately dropped to 0.

"[Winner: Dave Vervayens]"

"Really? Simple as that?" I asked, taken aback by how quick she was to give up when still at full lifepoints.

She shrugged. "It's an alpha version of the deck. I didn't really expect it to win, and that's highlighted a deck composition problem that would need a complete rebuild. "

"So can it wait until later?" Dave asked. "Timo needs a new deck. Fun fact, he's only got a Savage Steel starter right now, and it's just not working out for him. I figured we could at least let him watch your Magic World in action, see if it's more to his taste, but looks like that's a bust."

"Oh, but I've got my real Magic World deck here too." she said, pulling it out of one of the pockets on her labcoat. She turned to face me. "Timo, would you like to try out one of my other testing decks? I feel like Dragon World would be a better baseline than Danger."

"Uh, sure? Should I wait here while you get it, or..."

She spoke to her core deck case. "Gorgas, can you bring some Dragon World decks for me?" There was a delay of a few seconds, and a blue-scaled dragon man appeared wearing white robes with gold trim. There was a purple feather in his hat. He was holding an open suitcase with eight Dragon World decks arranged, as I could tell from the flag cards on top of them.

"Thank you, Gorgas. Timo, pick a deck please." she said, gesturing to the box in her buddy's hands.

"Uh, this one?" I said, pointing to the one on the bottom-left. Gorgas handed the deck to me, and I thanked him. He nodded politely and vanished back into Emily's deck.

"Take a quick look through the deck." she said, clasping her hands. "There's an index card under the flag explaining the concept, the main plays, even the luminize chant."

"Fun fact, my luminize chant has every letter of the alphabet." noted Dave. "I've never seen a quick brown fox monster so I had to get creative."

I skimmed through it. The buddy was Fly-Trap Dragon, and the deck seemed simultaneously very straightforward and just as oddball as I expected from watching Emily's Tarot deck being played.

"Alright, here goes nothing. Ahem." I looked at the index card again. "When we speak it's with four thousand voices, when we strike it's with four thousand fists. Luminize - Fours Majeure!

"Oh, that's one I've been meaning to test for a long time!" she squealed in excitement. "Science is magic! Luminize - Thaumotology 101!"

"Dragon World!"

"Magic World!" she said, Gorgas standing by her side with the flag. "Charge and draw! I pay one gauge to call Dragowizard Qinus Axia to the left, who deals one damage to the player of my choice." She pointed at me. "Axia?" she said to the monocled blue dragon.

"Thunder shock!" said Axia, blasting me with lightning.

"Next, I pay another gauge to equip Gunrod Bechstein, and rest it to deal another damage to you." she said, blasting me with what looked like a cross between a magic staff and some kind of arcane shotgun. "And I can call Dragowizard Burning Wand to the center, and rest him for a third point of damage!"

"Burning Wand! ...is my name." said the red dragon, blasting me with a fireball from his hand.

"And last but not least, here's the only attack I'm allowed on turn one. Qinus Axia, attack the fighter!"

"Here's a real shocker!" said Axia, jabbing me with an electrified staff.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/2/6 | 10/1/3

I laughed. "I'm down to five already. Magic World brings a lot of interesting effects to the table, but not much direct combat power. I took a real beating on that turn but all your monsters have low stats. Draw! And I'll charge... and draw!"

I grinned. "I think I get how this deck works. I buddy call Fly-Trap Dragon to the center, and call another Fly-Trap Dragon to the left. Then, I'll call Thunder Knights Main Gauche Dragon to the right."

Emily nodded. "As long as you've got another monster with 4000 power Fly-Trap has an extra critical."

"Exactly, and every monster you put in here has that because of this card - I pay one gauge to set 4000 Festival, giving all of my monsters penetrate. All three of you, link attack Burning Wand!"

"Burning Wand regrets everything!" yelled the red dragowizard as my dragons pummeled him with bear-trap claws (and a single sword).

"And now, penetrate!" I said, as my monsters struck Emily.

"That's all for this turn."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/2/3 | 3/1/3

"You're getting the hang of it! Draw! Charge and draw!"

She considered the field. "Most of Magic World's spells only stop monsters attacking when they attack alone, so the deck you chose actually doesn't suffer from those as you'll always want to link-attack. In that case... I buddy-call Dragowizard Gorgas, to the center, and give him two Wizard cards from my drop zone for his Soulguard."

Gorgas leapt forward, two cards from the drop zone going into his soul.

"Cast! Bye Bye Later puts your center Fly-Trap into the gauge! I can rest my Gunrod to take another shot at you, and rest my buddy to deal another two damage on top of that."

"Spirit Orb!" yelled the dragon, blasting me with what I can only describe as a kamehameha.

"Axia, attack the fighter!"

"Green Dragon Shield protects me!"

"And that's all. Look like you've won this one."

Life/Gauge/Hand  
2/3/3 | 3/2/2

"I draw! And I'll keep my hand. I call a third Fly-Trap to the center. Everyone - link-attack Gorgas!"

"That's the spirit." said Gorgas, shattering under the combined assault of my three dragons and reforming from his soulguard.

"And seven penetrate damage means it's over." I said, as the trio leapt over Gorgas to strike at Emily.

"[Winner: Timo Zaitsev]"

"Thanks for the game, Emily. Here's your deck back." I said, offering her the cards.

"No, you can keep it." she said, waving the deck away. "Believe it or not Dave gives me every single Dragon World card he pulls out of packs, so I have spares of everything in there."

"Fun fact, I actually give you everything but Danger World. I'm happy with only having Danger decks." he replied. "It just looks like I only give you Dragon World cards because I open a pack of a set that's meant to have eight different worlds and, boom, all the cards are Dragon World. Thanks Kyoya." he said, closing his eyes and shaking his head with a smile.

"Interesting." said Eva, from behind Emily. Emily jumped in surprise when she realized who had spoken.

"Eva! When did you get here? Wait, how did you know we were here?"

Dave laughed. "She showed up when you were fighting Timo. Fun fact, we went looking for her first. She was reading a book, didn't want to be disturbed, you know how she is."

Emily was staring at me with her one uncovered eye. "You wanted to buddyfight me?"

Dave laughed. "Actually, I was going to buddyfight you earlier, not him. Show off some different worlds to Timo here. But since he's got one of Emily's decks now..."


	3. Horror World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva, the strangely quiet analyst girl, reveals her deck. She fights under a flag almost nobody else has - Horror World. Can Timo stop her Slasher deck before the ghosts of her monsters overwhelm him?  
> The full text for all Horror World cards introduced in this chapter is in the notes.

Eva had taken up position on the opposite side of the lab fighting stage from me.

"If you should go down to the woods today..." she said, her core deck case turning into an ornate iron lantern with a small blue flame inside. The core, a dull grey, blended in almost seamlessly with the ironwork. "Luminize - Don't Go Alone."

"When we speak it's with four thousand voices, when we strike it's with four thousand fists! Luminize - Fours Majeure!"

"Raise the flag!" I said. Eva didn't say it with me, instead silently raising an arm to the side her flag would appear on.

"I'm with Dragon World for now." I said. A Fly-Trap Dragon stood silently by my side, my temporary buddy.

"Horror World." she said. Her buddy had appeared next to her, a muscular man with shaggy black hair wearing a bloodstained butcher's apron and a hockey mask. His left hand was an oversized sharp-looking hook. In his right hand he held the flagpole to the Horror World flag, a grinning jack o' lantern in front of crossed bones.

"Horror World? I've never even heard of that one." I admitted.

"Fun fact, Horror World technically hasn't existed for years." explained Dave. "It got eaten by Yamigedo before he got sealed away, and only just reappeared after he was beaten again."

"There's maybe twenty Horror World players in the world right now." noted Emily. "They've not been in booster packs yet, so the only way to get them is if a monster from that world decides to be your buddy and brings their friends along too."

"And hey, another fun fact, the only known world with less players right now is Aqua World, because only one of them wanted to be a buddy monster."

"Charge. Draw. Cast, Haunted Mansion. Call to the center - Wayward Son Carrion."

A vaguely humanoid figure appeared, wrapped in various animal skins that had been crudely stitched together. He was wearing a beak-like plaguedoctor's mask as well. The only skin visible was his hands, each holding a sharp-looking knife.

Her set spell, Haunted Mansion, appeared as a stately yet eerie-looking building behind her. Gnarled trees beside an imposing doorway, barred windows and grotesque gargoyles.

"Carrion sends a monster from my deck to the drop zone." she said, as cards popped out of her deck to float in front of her. She tapped one to make her choice and they vanished.

"Cast, Buried Alive." she said, reaching a palm out to the card in her hand and gently pushing it forwards. "I pay one gauge to place another monster in my drop zone. I draw."

"Uh, okay?" I said as she chose another monster to bury. A new card flew out of her lantern.

"Carrion, attack." she said, without even a gesture towards me.

"Cut cut cut!" the monster shrieked, leaping forwards and slashing at me with his knives while I held my arms up in front of my face.

"Your move." she said, her one visible green eye staring at me without blinking.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/2/6 | 10/2/4

"Okay, I'll admit that guy's pretty creepy." I said. "Draw! Charge and draw! I call Raid Claw Dragon to the center, Crimson Battler Sesters Dragon to the left and Crimson Battler Radical Leg Dragon to the right. Then, I'll equip my Battle Spirit Fist Dragosoul."

I held out my arm as the gauntlet formed around it. I didn't know what her set spell did, but I could hazard a guess at it being related to the cards in her drop zone.

"Radical Leg, attack Carrion!" I said. Carrion shattered, and I briefly saw the ghostly shape of a winged woman appear beside Eva, before floating backwards into her mansion set spell.

"Alright, what did your set spell do?"

"Nothing." she said flatly. "Haunted Mansion can call a monster from its soul during each of your turns, for two lifepoints and their original call cost. The effect was from a monster."

"Fun fact, Horror World has a unique keyword - [Haunt]." offered Dave from the sidelines.

Eva gestured to the creaking door of the mansion. "Whenever one of my monsters is destroyed, I can move one card with Haunt from my drop zone to the soul of any non-monster card on my field."

"Every time one of her monsters dies, her spells and items can become stronger. It's a deck that only becomes more dangerous as the game goes on." said Emily.

"That's Horror World for you - like a horror movie villain, it just keeps coming back." added Dave.

"Sesters Dragon, attack the fighter!"

"I pay two life to call Terror From The Sky - Murder Crow to the center." she said. The doors of the mansion slammed open, the ghostly winged woman from before soaring out as an actual solid monster. It looked like the decaying wings of some large bird had been sewn to her back, and her hands had been hacked off at the wrists, replaced with vicious-looking metal talons. She wore a carnival bird mask with real feathers around the edge. "And when she enters the field from anywhere but my hand..."

Murder Crow swooped on Sesters Dragon, grabbing him in her talons and flying upwards before releasing him. "Dead drop." she said, as he fell to the ground and shattered.

"Fun fact, Haunted Mansion doesn't redirect attacks when it's used." He closed his eyes and shrugged. "But Murder Crow can pick off attacking monsters anyway."

"I guess there's nothing I can do but attack your monster with Raid Claw."

"And again, Haunt activates." Murder Crow shattered when struck by Raid Claw, and the ghostly image of a small girl briefly appeared, hands held up with the palms facing towards me, before she too vanished into the mansion. I didn't have time to really see her, but at least I understood what Eva's deck actually did now.

"So that's your plan." I said. "You'll bring out that other monster to stop another attack. And if I kill her, you get Murder Crow back."

She nodded silently in response.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/3/3 | 8/2/4

"Draw. Charge. Draw. I call Sheet Ghost to the left. I discard a card to equip Endless Razor." she said, a straight razor appearing in her hand. A simple white sheet was now floating in the air making 'oooo' noises. "And..."

She tilted her head to the side, and gave an unnervingly wide grin. Her hair now covered the opposite eye, and the one I could see was blood red.

"I pay two gauge to buddy call Hookhand Man Kardor from my hand."

"It's about time." said her buddy in a gruff voice, muffled slightly by his mask. He put down the flag and jumped forwards. He raised his fist in the air, yelling "Hook! Hand! Man! Karrrrrrrrdor!"

"Kardor, attack the center monster." said Eva, her expression neutral again. Her eye was still red.

"I'm hooked on a feeling!" said Kardor, firing the hook from his hand towards Raid Claw, and pulling the dragon back towards him on on a chain attached to it. He destroyed Raid Claw with a punch.

"Kardor nullifies the effects of all monsters he battles." she said. "He also deals penetrate damage - three of it."

The hook fired again, this time striking me square in the face.

"Sheet Ghost, attack the fighter." she said, and the ghost lightly collided with me, still 'oooo'ing.

"Endless Razor can attack even if I have a center monster. It has Shadow Dive - a monster wouldn't protect you." she explained, flicking the blade out towards me without moving from the spot. For an instant the blade seemed to reach right across the entire battlefield and slash my face, but just as suddenly it was normal again.

Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/3/3 | 9/1/1

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

"They, uh, weren't kidding when they called it Horror World." I said. "Draw! Charge and draw!"

I looked at the four cards in my hand. "I pay one gauge to set my 4000 Festival. And another to make my festival call Sesters Dragon back from the drop zone to the center. Then I buddy call Fly-Trap Dragon, to the left!"

My temporary buddy leapt forwards.

"Radical Leg, attack Kardor!" If she boosted Kardor somehow or stopped this attack I'd have to link attack with my other two dragons, but Radical Leg should be able to beat Kardor here.

The dragon leapt forward and dropkicked Kardor, destroying him. The chain from his hook remained, wrapped around Radical Leg's, well, leg.

Her life total remained unchanged. "Kardor's effect negates all other monster effects. Even the penetrate granted by Festival. Haunt triggers again." Murder Crow's ghost briefly flickered in and out.

"Fly-Trap Dragon, attack the fighter!"

"I pay two life. Murder Crow returns to the center."

"Dead drop." the winged woman said, emerging from the mansion once again. She lifted and dropped my attacking monster to destroy it.

"That's, uh, pretty much what I expected. Sesters Dragon, attack!" The dragon briefly boxed with Murder Crow, before destroying her with a solid right hook. "And penetrate!"

"Haunt triggers again." said Eva, The ghostly figure of her buddy flickered in front of her.

"If I've got an item, Sesters Dragon puts a card in my gauge whenever he deals damage." I had almost dropped her life low enough that any impact card could take her out of the game, but I couldn't cast the one in my hand with a center monster. I had to stall for another turn. One way or another, this fight was coming to an end.

"I end my turn." I said. 

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
4/3/3 | 5/1/1

"Draw. Charge. Draw." She studied her hand intensely.

"Call Faceless Jack to the center." He was a man dressed in a ragged clown outfit wearing a faded mask that looked like a yellow smiley face.

"Cast, Fleshbound Book." The card became an oversized book, which floated in the air beside her. The cover seemed to be a human face stretched over the book. The mouth opened, and spat three cards into her hand. "Discard hand. Draw three."

She gently raised her right hand, and pushed a card aside. "Call Murder Crow from hand to right. " The now-familiar bird lady appeared again. At least she didn't destroy a monster when called this way.

"Sheet Ghost, attack Sesters Dragon." The ghost lazily drifted towards my dragon, colliding with him. He shattered as it phased through him.

"Faceless Jack, attack the fighter." The clown raised his right hand with a chuckle. A knife appeared in it, and he hurled it towards my chest.

"Murder Crow, attack the fighter." The bird lady turned to give Eva a small nod, and swooped at me, claws out.

"Cast! Blue Dragon Shield!" I said, gaining a gauge as the giant dragon head repelled the winged woman. 

"Endless Razor." Eva said, swiping it through the air in front of herself again.

Life/Gauge/Hand  
2/4/1 | 5/2/2

"Draw! Charge and draw!" I said. She was still just out of range of my impact. It was risky, but I needed to leave my center open here. If I didn't win this turn then I wasn't going to win at all.

"I pay a gauge to revive Gauntlet Sword Dragon with my Festival." I said. "And I call him to the left!"

A golden dragon appeared. Like the Crimson Battlers he was humanoid. He wore a bluish-green open shirt, and on each of his arms was a long golden gauntlet with intricate patterns carved on it, each ending in a sharp point. Hence the name, I guess.

"Fun fact, I've seen Gauntlet Sword Dragon before." said Dave, nodding sagely. "He's got a call cost of three gauge, but you don't have to pay it if you're below five life."

Emily laughed. "You saw it in a deck I built, Dave, so we all knew that one!"

Dave shrugged. "Anyway, he's a pretty strong monster, and he might just turn this around for Timo."

"Gauntlet Sword, attack Faceless Jack!"

"There are no problems, only opportunities!" said the dragon, jumping forward towards the clown.

"Cast. Bloodlust Fever." she said. Faceless Jack began glowing with energy as knives appeared in each of his hands. "3000 additional power and defense. Counterattack."

"Cast, Dracoenergy!" I replied, targeting Gauntlet Sword with the enhancement spell. He punched clean through the clown.

"Fun fact, Bloodlust Fever is exactly like Dracoenergy, but for her Slasher monsters, so they'll cancel each other out!"

"Haunt triggers." said Eva. Murder Crow's ghost flickered in front of the spooky girl once again.

"And so does penetrate!" I said, pointing at Eva. Gauntlet Sword Dragon slashed across her face, her black dress fluttering a little from the air displaced by the sheer speed of the attack.

With only two life left she couldn't call out Murder Crow any more.

"Radical Leg, you're up next!" I said. "Attack the fighter!"

Radical Leg leapt forward with a flying kick, before being repelled by a spell - specifically, a wooden coffin that had appeared in front of him.

"Coffin Lid Shield nullifies a direct attack. I mill two." said Eva, two cards flying out from her deck and dissolving in front of her.

"And I'll attack you directly with my Dragosoul!" I said, running forward to punch her. She had no cards left in hand, and couldn't afford the cost of Haunted Mansion's call effect.

"I pay one life and one gauge. Call, Bloody Mary from Haunted Mansion. Curse Of Mirror."

My attack was interrupted by a large gold-framed circular mirror appearing in front of me. My surroundings were reflected, but I wasn't - instead, there was a small girl with blank white eyes and purple hair in curls. She giggled at me, the blood-covered palms of her hands pressed against the 'inside' of the mirror, and I jumped back in fright.

"Ah!" I said, flailing my arms as I fell backwards.

Dave laughed. "Fun fact, Bloody Mary even spooked me the first time Eva called her out." He held up his palms in the same gesture the mirror girl had made. "Mary stops a direct attack by turning it against herself. She's even got enough defense to stick around sometimes."

The mirror girl giggled again. Thankfully I didn't need Eva's center to be open or Bloody Mary could have singlehandedly cost me victory. 

I got to my feet, and grinned. "Eva, it's been fun, but... Final Phase!" I declared.

She just nodded at me. Despite her eerie mannerisms and creepy deck it really had been a lot of fun to fight her.

"I pay four gauge for my Crimson Soul Grenade impact!" I said, looking at a fireball forming around my Dragosoul. "If my center is empty, I have a weapon and you have less than four life, it deals four damage!"

I flung the fireball past Mary's mirror. The impact connected with Eva, briefly knocking her off her feet and down to 0 lifepoints.

[Winner: Timo Zaitsev.]

Hookhand Man Kardor suddenly appeared, looming in front of me.

"YOU!" he said.

He clapped a hand (his real one) on my shoulder.

"...really earned that victory, well done." He let out a belly laugh, still muffled a little by his mask. "Let's do this again sometime."

As Kardor vanished back into her deck I noticed Eva reaching up to her right eye. She carefully removed the red contact lens from it, revealing it was the same green as her other eye underneath.

"Wait, was that all just an act?"

"Some of it." she admitted. Her expression was neutral, like it had been the whole time except when she was calling her buddy.

"I told you she psychs people out." said Dave with a grin, apparently happy that his friend had managed to surprise me more than a few times there. "Guess who gave her the idea for the eye thing? Fun fact, it was me." he said without actually giving me any time to guess.

Meanwhile Emily was talking to Eva. "I know your card pool is limited right now, but I still think it'd be a delight if you let me tinker with that deck someday."

Eva shook her head slightly. "Not yet." Emily pouted a little in disappointment.

Dave glanced at his phone. "Hey, we're running a little into classes that I don't really want to skip. But if you guys are up for it I can book a free classroom for after school, we can talk strategy or whatever."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Horror World  
> Flag / Horror World  
> You may use Horror World and Generic cards. 
> 
> Flag: A grinning pumpkin with yellow eyes in front of two crossed femur bones.  
> Border: Dark-green vines on gray stonework.
> 
>  
> 
>  **[Haunt]** \- When a monster on your field is destroyed you may put one card with this effect from your drop zone into the soul of a non-monster card on your field.
> 
> Hookhand Man, Kardor  
> Size 3 Monster / Horror World / Slasher / 6000 Power / 3 Criticals / 6000 Defense  
> "His name is the end of your story."  
> [Call Cost][Pay 2 gauge]  
> Nullify all abilities of your opponent's monster that is in battle with this card. This ability cannot be nullified.  
> [Haunt][Penetrate]
> 
> Terror From The Sky, Murder Crow  
> Size 2 Monster / Horror World / Slasher / 4000 Power / 2 Criticals / 1000 Defense  
> "She fights by lifting her foes high into the air and waiting for them to say 'Put me down'."  
> "Dead Drop" When this card enters the field from anywhere other than your hand, destroy a size 2 or less monster on your opponent's field. [Haunt]
> 
> Wayward Son, Carrion  
> Size 2 Monster / Horror World / Slasher / 5000 Power / 2 Criticals / 4000 Defense  
> "You're skin and bones. But we can use skin and bones."  
> When this card enters the field, put up to one monster from your deck into your drop zone, and shuffle your deck.
> 
> Faceless Jack  
> Size 1 Monster / Horror World / Slasher / 3000 Power / 1 Criticals / 3000 Defense  
> "The Slashers. Humans with the strength and madness of monsters."  
> Shadow Dive.  
> [Haunt]
> 
> Bloody Mary  
> Size 1 Monster / Horror World / Slasher / 0 Power / 1 Criticals / 4000 Defense  
> You cannot call this card from your hand.  
> [Act] You can discard this card from your hand. If you do, you gain 2 life.  
> [Counter] [Act] "Curse of Mirror" During your opponent's turn, when you are being attacked and this card is in the soul of a spell on your field, you may pay 1 gauge and 1 life. If you do, call this card from your hand to your center, and change the target of the attack to this monster. You may only use "Curse of Mirror" once per turn.  
> [Haunt]
> 
> Sheet Ghost  
> Size 0 Monster / Horror World / Monster Mash - Undead / 1000 Power / 1 Criticals / 1000 Defense  
> "The simplest of ghosts - a spirit who has forgotten their own form."  
> [Haunt]
> 
> Haunted Mansion  
> Spell / Horror World / Terrain - Undead  
> "Their home's a mausoleum. Have you come to see them?"  
> [Set]  
> [Counter][Act] Pay 2 life. If you do, call a monster from this card's soul by paying its [Call Cost]. This ability only activates once per turn. This ability can only be activated during your opponent's turn.
> 
> Buried Alive  
> Spell / Horror World / Death - Earth  
> "Horror world. Home of the dead, the buried, and sometimes those lucky few who are both."  
> [Cast cost] [1 gauge]  
> Search your deck for a monster, put it in the drop zone and shuffle your deck. Then draw 1 card. You may only cast Buried Alive once per turn.
> 
> Bloodlust Fever  
> Spell / Horror World / Enhance - Slasher  
> "A calling card written in blood."  
> Choose and use one of the following two effects.  
> *Choose a spell on your field, and gain 2 life for each card in that card's soul.  
> *[Counter] Choose a «Slasher» in battle, and for this battle, give it power+3000, defense+3000, and [Counterattack].
> 
> Fleshbound Book  
> Spell / Horror World / Draw  
> "Holding the book may drive you mad. Reading it certainly will."  
> You may only cast this card if you have 5 life or less.  
> Discard all cards from your hand, and draw 3 cards! You may only cast "Fleshbound Book" once per turn.
> 
> Coffin Lid Shield  
> Spell / Horror World / Defense  
> "It's not uncommon to see newly risen undead wield the lid of their coffin in one hand. It is uncommon for them to have a real weapon in their other."  
> You may only cast this card during an attack on your opponent's turn and if you do not have a monster in the center.  
> [Counter] Nullify the attack and send the top two cards of your deck to the drop zone.
> 
> Endless Razor  
> Item / Horror World / Slasher - Weapon / 3000 Power / 1 Criticals  
> "A cursed razor with an edge that goes on forever."  
> [Equip Cost][Discard a card]  
> Shadow Dive. This can attack even if you have a monster in the center.


	4. The Warlords

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang watch a recording of a buddyfight involving Natasha, Timo's sister and leader of Team Warlords.

"We have the video." Eva said, as I walked into the room Dave had booked. There were four chairs set up, and a screen on the wall.

"The video?" I asked.

Dave was already seated, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head and a plastic cup on the floor next to him. His dark-blue hair was still messy even though he wasn't rushing around for once. His buddy, Armorknight Sphinx, was in chibi form and had curled up in a corner to sleep. He grinned, "Fun fact, Timo! Every buddyfight on the school's fighting stage is recorded, so we can 'learn from the examples of our classmates', or watch Team Trash goof up again. Only analysts like Eva really bother watching them most of the time, though. I prefer watching them in person."

Emily handed me a plastic cup with some soda. She had left her labcoat back in the science room, now wearing a purple shirt. Her pink hair was still up in a ponytail, but she had switched her safety goggles for glasses. I noticed that she and Dave were drinking soda, but Eva was holding a teacup. I probably shouldn't be surprised that a girl who wore a fancy black dress to school would also be the type to drink tea. "We thought... well, Dave thought you'd prefer not having to go to one of her matches yourself to see her in action." said Emily.

I nodded. "Y-yeah. I could probably handle just watching a video. Thanks, Dave."

"Hey, no prob. You just tell me if we need to switch it off."

I sat down, and Dave pressed play on his phone. The screen started showing the video.

 

* * *

 

Two buddyfighters stood at the opposite side of our school's fighting stage. One was a boy wearing a denim jacket over a t-shirt with some band's logo on it, and had his green hair in spikes. His nose was pierced. I had never seen him before.

The other one I recognized instantly. Natasha Zaitsev - my sister.

Her brown hair, the same color as my own, was a little shorter than shoulder-length and framed the perpetual sneer on her face that made her look as if she was utterly disgusted by everything she saw. She even had the same little tuft of hair on top that would never stay down. She wore an open black coat, trimmed with gold thread and with the Danger World wolf head emblem emblazoned in gold on the back. Underneath that she had a red martial arts outfit (the same shade of red as the hoodie I was wearing). She was a lot taller than me, though, and I knew she was physically stronger than me by far. 

 

* * *

 

"Hey Timo. Fun fact, your sister is _ripped_." said Dave, with Emily shushing him.

"The boy is Johhny Thompson." supplied Eva, glancing at me with the one eye visible under her dark hair. I nodded in thanks.

 

* * *

 

"If I win, I'm back on the team! I was here before you, and I'm not gonna be kicked out by some thug girl who got some lucky draws against us!"

"Talk is cheap." said Natasha, narrowing her eyes.

"Fine! Let's fight!" The boy's core deck case turned into a bass guitar. "I go to the party, I ninja the loot, I gank the boss! Luminize - Dungeon Punk!"

"Violence for violence is the rule of beasts!" yelled Natasha, her core deck case forming into an oversized metal shield that floated beside her. "Luminize - Martial Law."

"Raise the flag!" they both shouted.

"Danger World." said Natasha, holding the flag herself. Her buddy was nowhere to be seen. I supposed it was because he was simply too big to fit next to her, and too proud to appear any smaller.

"Dungeon World!" said Johnny, with a blue-haired boy dressed in ninja garb frantically waving the flag for him. His buddy? He flicked a card from his hand to the gauge and pulled one from his bass. "Charge and draw! I play Mission Card - Form A Party! And another Mission Card - Form A Party! And each time I play a Mission Card, my Form A Party goes to the drop zone and gives me one lifepoint and one Adventurer from my deck to my hand!" A card flew from his deck to his hand.

"I put this one in my deck just for your buddy - I pay two gauge to equip my Dragon Vanquishing Sword, Dragonslayer! And I attack the fighter!" he leapt forward to slash at Natasha, who looked decidedly unimpressed. "Final Phase - I set Darkness Final Mission Card World End, setting off my Form A Party again! You're down three lifepoints already!"

 

* * *

 

"Mission Card - World End?" I asked. Dave paused the video.

Emily explained, "It's a set impact - whenever a Demon Lord attacks, you put a card in its soul. And if it has five in the soul, it destroys every card your opponent controls and sets their lifepoints to 1."

"Fun fact, my dad was on one of the first expeditions to Dungeon World. Let's make it a twofer, my godfather's a Demon Lord." said Dave. He chuckled.

Eva silently took a sip from her tea.

"He's running Adventurer support, though, so it looks like he's not running a standard Demon Lord deck. Maybe his buddy... and, yes, a Dancing Magician Tetsuya..." Emily said absently, putting her drink aside to jot down notes. Dave shrugged as he heard her trail off mid-sentence, and hit play.

 

* * *

 

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
7/2/6 | 12/1/4

"Frankly three damage is more than I expected from you. You won't deal even one more." Without looking to the side she slammed a fist into the shield floating next to her to draw her cards. "Draw. Charge and draw. I call Armorknight Golem to the center. Armorknight Tiger to the right. And Armorknight Harty to the left."

Johhny's eyes opened wide. "What? Harty? But that means..."

Nat crossed her arms, staring down her opponent. "No link attacks. Everyone must fight with their own strength."

"Hey, not cool! You put that hate card into your deck because you're afraid of fighting me fair and square and..." started Johnny, still holding onto the sword that was designed to fight Dragon monsters.

"Enough. Harty, attack the fighter." The strange wolf creature growled and blasted Johnny with the many guns mounted on its back.

"Golem, attack." The robot followed suit with its own numerous weapons. "And Tiger."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
7/3/5 | 6/1/4

"W-well, I was just warming up. Draw! Charge and draw! I buddy call to my left, Apprentice Ninja, Akatsuki! And another two Apprentice Ninja Akatsukis! And if I can't link attack, I'll have one of my Akatsuki's destroy Harty!"

One of the ninja boys leapt forward and after struggling to pull his sword from its sheath finally slew the wolf.

"Akatsuki and Akatsuki, link-attack Tiger! And when he link-attacks, he puts a card into the soul of one of my Mission Cards!" said Johnny as two cards from the top of his deck went into his set impact.

Natasha watched with disdain as the little ninjas dodged around the tiger, slashing at it with their swords. "Pathetic. Six thousand power isn't even enough to scratch my Golem, and you won't live long enough to use your Mission Card. Focusing on defeating my buddy was a mistake."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
7/3/5 | 7/2/2

She slammed a fist into her shield core gadget once again. "Draw. Charge and draw." She looked at her hand, and declared, "This is the end."

Johnny's eyes widened again. "You mean..."

"I cast Ritual of Deity Lord Descend, discarding a card and paying two gauge to buddy call Emperor Dragon Gael Khan from my deck to the center."

Golem shattered, and the colossal dragon roared as it appeared. The Akatsuki's all shattered as well.

The dragon spoke in a booming voice. "The King's Roar destroys all who dare stand against me. "

"I call Armorknight Tiger to the left and right, and attack with each in turn."

Johnny's lifepoints dropped to 3 as the big cats let off a hail of gunfire.

"Gael Khan. Destroy him."

Johnny yelped in terror as Gael Khan reached out with one of his gigantic claws. "Bow down, or be crushed." spoke the dragon.

Johnny reached for one of the cards in his hand. "C-cast Divine Protection Of Shalsana, paying one gauge to..."

"Pathetic. Fanged Dragon Declaration to negate your spell." she said, paying 2 gauge and a life as the Emperor Dragon simply crushed her opponent in one claw and the Dungeon World flag shattered.

"[Winner: Natasha Zaitsev]"

Johnny stood up, yelling in anger. "That wasn't fair! Give me another rematch and I'll..."

A pale boy and a dark-skinned girl were now standing next to Natasha. The boy was dressed in an elaborate purple overcoat with a black shirt and cravat underneath, with white gloves on his hands. He had horn-rimmed glasses and his white hair was in a pompadour style. He held a black book core gadget under one arm, the core forming the middle of a stylized eye pattern on the cover.

In contrast, the girl was wearing an oversized plain green hoodie and a simple long skirt. She'd look strikingly pretty, if not for her oversized clothes making her seem very childish. Her hair was waist-length, and bleached blonde - not natural, unlike Dave's blue hair or Emily's pink. There was a pair of headphones around her neck, which appeared to be her core gadget.

"Please. You're embarrassing yourself." said the boy, smirking and pushing up his glasses with a finger.

"Like, dude, it's bogus you got beat but you gotta admit it." said the girl cheerfully, the overly-long sleeves of her hoodie flapping about as she gestured with every word.

 

* * *

 

Eva paused the video on a frame of the three standing side-by-side. "Michael Schwarzschild. Tess Williams. Natasha Zaitsev. They are Team Warlords."

"Schwarzschild's a Dungeon World user, and his deck is 'Monster Manual'." said Dave. "Fun fact, he recently changed his buddy to one of the Hundred Demons - Death Master Lelag Monarch. No big plays in his deck, no impacts or one-turn-kills, but he'll just keep coming at you with wave upon wave of monsters until you run out of answers."

"Demon Lords. Zero-three-zero formation. Soulguard and pseudo-soulguard." said Eva. It was strange seeing her in full-on analyst mode when I hadn't heard her making much more than monosyllabic replies, outside of when I was buddyfighting her. Maybe she was just shy?

"Plus he's a giant theatre nerd. He's in the drama club and, fun fact, also the sewing club. He made that outfit himself, by hand." added Dave.

"Moving on, Tess is... an odd duck." said Emily. "She's a lot less intense than the other two. Nice girl to be around if you can get over her weird way of speaking."

"Dragon Knights. Buddy is Napoleon." noted Eva. "Expect a field with total size beyond three."

"And finally..." said Dave with some hesitation, briefly casting a glance at me.

"Natasha Zaitsev. She..." started Eva, before I raised a hand to interrupt her.

"I... know Nat already. Danger World, buddy is Gael Khan. Her deck is all about sheer brute strength now."

Emily nodded, and added "Emperor Dragon Gael Khan has impressive stats and sweeps the field when he arrives. 10000 defense means nothing but unconditional removal or link attacks is likely to stop him."

There was a pause. They all knew my last name, and it seemed like that was enough for them to not comment on Nat's personality or playstyle. I was grateful for that.

"So that's the current lineup of The Warlords." said Emily. "They've been around for years, and have rotated out members before, usually when one of them graduates. Up until recently they weren't this, well, terrifying. Ever since their newest member took over leadership..."

"The guy who was fighting her... uh, Johnny? He used to be one of them?"

Dave laughed. "Oh man, you wouldn't believe this. Fun fact, I heard the whole team got challenged by some random girl who had just got her buddy, and she just stomped them all flat before saying they should kick him off the team and..." he paused, his smile fading as realisation dawned about who that girl was. "Oh. Sorry."

Eva flipped pushed her hair out of her eyes with a hand, looking at me. It was the first time I had seen both her eyes uncovered. She spoke quietly, as she usually did, but "If you're joining our team, Timo, you have to know that taking part in a tournament in this school means facing The Warlords."

"It's okay. I... I want to get strong enough to fight her, so I can't be afraid of her. I already knew she was strong, but I need to hear all of this."

"They're all exceptionally skilled buddyfighters, and it's a wonder none of them ended up in one of Europe's WBC representatives slots. Even my brother's team, Shining Knights, had a hard time against them, and they've only gotten stronger with their new lineup." said Emily. She clapped her hands together. "I'll need to build you a new deck. Even without a buddy it'd be good to get some practice in. Now the only question is what world..."

"Katana World." said Eva. We turned to look at the quiet goth girl. "Before we fought, I saw your buddyfight with Emily. Katana World would be a better fit for you than Danger World or Dragon World."

I blinked in surprise. "Okay? I guess I'll give Katana World a try."

Emily grinned. "Right! I'll get to work on it right away, and you'll have your deck by tomorrow!"

Dave smiled. "Great! Fun fact, I knew we could make this work. Let's get together tomorrow, do some tuning matches."


	5. Trash Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Timo faces off against the leader of Team Trash and his nigh-invulnerable Horror World buddy, the Iron Wolf Ferrocious. Will his new Katana World deck be enough to keep him from being press-ganged into the worst team in the academy?

"Obligatory riddle pun!" said Sphinxy, blasting me off my feet with his missiles. My Katana World flag shattered.

"[Winner: Dave Vervayens]"

He offered a hand to help me back up. "Looks like I win, but fun fact? I only scratched out that win because I figured you had a Secret Sword Shooting Star ready, so I just couldn't use my weapons."

It had been a week or so since I had met Dave and his friends. Since then we had met up every morning and most days after school to practice buddyfighting with the deck Emily had built for me, a Katana World deck with a heavy emphasis on counter-impacts. Dave had to skip out some days due to being on the soccer team, Eva was apparently part of the journalism club (she wrote something for the school paper we got e-mailed every week?) and Emily just plain forget to show up sometimes if she was at the labs. They had each played against me a few times - I lost most of them, but I was getting better. I couldn't quite handle some of the ridiculous combo decks Emily tested on me, but I supposed it was a good lesson in being prepared for anything.

"Was it really that obvious?" I asked. Shooting Star was a solid answer to his Dangerous Cradle, the main offensive power of his deck. But if he just tossed those away and focused on monsters he could make me waste my set impact.

"Hey, don't feel bad about it." he replied. "It's just how your deck works - you figure out what the other guy's up to and lay a trap."

The Secret Swords that Emily had given me worked pretty well against my usual opponents - Star Crusher shut down Emily's defensive spells, Comet took care of Eva's high power monsters that usually attacked alone (especailly as she physically couldn't change her deck very much), and Shooting Star had stopped Dave's Drill Bunker-powered finishing moves dead in their tracks more than once. Unfortunately it would only really be workable in the tournament if I knew exactly what opponents I was likely to face, and knowing the decks ran by Team Warlords wouldn't help me against any of the other teams on our way there. I also needed to get better at knowing when to sidedeck before a fight or I'd waste a lot of draws. I hadn't really felt up to playing anyone outside of Dave and his friends yet.

"Well, off to practice. Catch you later." said Dave with a cheerful wave. He switched on his buddy skill - three green question marks with a shared dot behind his back, rotating like helicopter rotors - and flew off into the air.

Having a buddy skill would really make getting around Academy City easier, but there's not really anything I could do about that right now. I started walking home - mom would still be at work until late in the evening (as usual) so maybe I should make some dinner before she got back. I didn't inherit dad's skill with cooking (and wrestling) large animals, but pasta wasn't beyond me.

I noticed a group of around ten boys up ahead of me, who actually seemed to be waiting for me. Most of them were older than I am, though one or two might have been in some of my classes. Another one I did recognize - Johnny Thompson, the Dungeon World user who recently got kicked out of the Warlords. Weirdly, he didn't seem to be the leader of the group - that title fell to the heavyset boy standing next to him.

He was wearing a military-style cap over green hair, and a black trenchcoat with brass buttons. His face resembled that of Johnny - Brothers? Cousins?

"Hey, kid!" he said gruffly. "You're that Danger World kid? The one who's been fighting everyone else with that flag?"

"I guess, yeah?" I ventured. I suppose I haven't been seen playing my new deck in public yet.

"Well I'm Robbie Thompson." he said, pointing to himself with a thumb, "And you lost to some of my boys a couple of weeks back, and that means you have to join my team!" he said, eyes wide and grinning manically. "The best team - Team Everyone-But-Us-Is-Trash!"

I blinked a couple of times. "...wait, you're the guys everyone calls Team Trash?" I asked.

He was furious. "Alright smartguy. One more chance - you and me, the fight stage, now!" he said, holding his core deck case out. "You win, you're off the hook. You lose, you join the crew."

I sighed. Well, at least I'd have a good reason to debut my new deck.

 

* * *

 

I wasn't sure if Robbie had booked the fight stage beforehand knowing I'd refuse to join his team, or if they had strongarmed their way into using it for our match. But either way we were standing on opposite ends of the room, getting ready for our fight. I put my deck in the multi-purpose core gadget and prepared to luminize.

I felt a tugging at my sleeve, and turned my head to see Eva. "Huh?" I said, surprised to see her here.

"We finished early." she said, apparently feeling it to be explanation enough. Oh, right, her journalism thing.

"Your deck." she said quietly, holding out a hand. Confused, I handed my deck to her. She fanned out the cards, pocketed four of them and put four new cards in their place before handing it back.

"Good luck." she said, before switching on her buddy skill (a pair of small blue flames, one above each shoulder) and floating gracefully to a seat in the stands. Kardor appeared beside her, taking up two full seats to himself. He didn't bother to switch to a smaller form, but at least was wearing a clean apron instead of his usual bloodstained one.

"Moons out, runes out!" Robbie yelled, his core gadget turning into an electric guitar. Unlike Johnny's bass this had a strap over his shoulders, so he was holding it in a position where he could actually play the guitar rather than just leaving it to float next to him. He also pulled his cap low, covering one eye. "Luminize - Full Moon Ahead!"

I still didn't have a real buddy, so I was using a multi-purpose core gadget. At least I had a deck now. "Knowledge is the sword that can't be seen. Luminize - Invisible Edge!" I said.

"Horror World!" he said, a feral-looking wolfman in haphazardly-assembled strips of iron armor holding the grinning pumpkin flag for him.

"Katana World!" I said, holding the flag myself. My temporary buddy, Agent Ninja Mamiya, stood silently beside me. As he wasn't a 'real' buddy he seemed somewhat lifeless.

"Huh. What are the odds I'd fight two Horror World users in as many days?" I muttered.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be Danger World?" he asked, but before I could answer he continued. "Ah heck, let's go for broke anyway. Charge and draw!" he said, plucking on his guitar's strings as a card flew into his gauge (and another into his hand).

"Alright, first things first, here's my girl Bloodsucker Proxy on the left!" he said. A deathly pale woman with long black hair appeared, her body wrapped in two giant bat wings on her back. She hissed, showing prominent fangs.

"Blood will have blood!" she said.

"And here's my first set spell - I pay one gauge to cast Blood Moon!" he said, tossing his set spell aside, where it became (of course) a small blood-red moon floating beside him. "While it's on the field, my items can't be destroyed by spell or monster effects!"

A spell that protects his items? The only Horror World item I had seen so far was Eva's Endless Razor, which didn't seem worth the effort to protect like that.

"Second! I pay a gauge for my set spell, Runic Circle!" Faintly glowing eldritch symbols appeared in a circle on the ground around Robbie. "The first time I transform each turn, I draw a card!"

Well that answered the question of what items he was using. Every time he transforms? Wait, that can't be right. Just how often would he need to transform?

"Third! Set spell, Skull Moon! If I'm already transformed, I can pay one lifepoint to transform once during your turn!" This small moon was closer to Earth's in coloration, but the most visible craters gave it the appearance of an oversized glowing human skull, a grin fixed on its rocky face.

If he drew a Transform card every turn he could cycle through his deck pretty quickly. But there had to be something more to it.

"And finally - Buddy Transform! Iron Wolf Ferrocious!" He said. He threw off his trenchcoat, arched his back and howled. Fur began growing out of his skin. Metal armor materialised on his new body.

"Ferrocious has Transform and 9000 defense!" He raised one of his new claws in the air, and clenched it. He gave a feral grin, showing off his new fangs. "And every single one of my Monster Mash monsters with transform... has Equipment Change!"

My eyes widened. That's what his deck did - he didn't just turn into his monsters like a Hero World deck, he could change form every turn without losing card advantage!

"I draw a card from Runic Circle. Proxy, attack the fighter!"

The vampire girl leapt at me, her wings unfurling to reveal she was wearing a red dress underneath. She attacked by biting at my neck.

"When Bloodsucker Proxy deals damage, I reveal the top card of my deck - If it's a monster it goes to the dropzone and I get two lifepoints! Anything else and it's added to her soul and I lose a lifepoint!" A card flew from his deck and spun around. He laughed. "Mothman Kriaz goes to the drop zone and my life increases. Your move, kid."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/2/6 | 13/1/2

"Draw! Charge and draw!" I looked through the cards in my hand. 9000 defense? I din't have a reliable answer to that right now. At least I could deal with his monster.

"I pay two gauge to call Noble Ninja Momochitanba to the center, giving me one lifepoint back!" The huge ninja appeared, garbed in red armor and holding a staff tipped with blades. Not quite a naginata but vaguely similar in design.

"Momochitanba, attack Bloodsucker Proxy!"

"Searing strike!" the ninja yelled, blasting the vampire with a fireball from one hand and swinging his weapon in the other. Proxy was destroyed.

"And double attack lets Momochitanba attack the fighter!" I said. "Cast, Ninja Arts Steel Ball!"

"Searing strike!" he yelled again, the attack boost from Steel Ball letting him actually harm my opponent, who growled in anger.

"Cast - Clear Serenity!" I said, three cards flying into my gauge. Katana World's unconditional gauge refill was becoming more and more a part of my playstyle during tuning with Dave and his friends.

"Final Phase! I cast Secret Sword Lethal Formation!" I said, placing a Secret Sword from my deck into the soul of my set impact.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
9/4/3 | 11/1/2

"Ahahaha! All that and you can't even put me down to my starting life?"

He started absolutely shredding on his guitar core gadget in order to draw for his turn. "Draw! Charge and draw! I transform into Black Shuck!"

He turned from the gray fur of his buddy to shaggy pitch-black fur as his armor vanished, and his eyes began glowing red. His teeth became more prominent, visible even with his mouth closed.

"And when I transform, I draw a card!" He swept his arm around in a circular motion, playing one long chord as a card flew out of his deck. "And Ferrocious returns to my hand!"

"I pay one gauge and call Distortion Beast Siberian to the left!" A crazed-looking woman with black and white striped fur appeared, her long white hair framing a grin with altogether too many teeth. Her fingers seemed to end in razor-sharp points.

"I also pay one gauge to call Curse Knight Clutchbone to the right!" he said. A massive suit of black armor appeared, holding a large bone-handled sword in both its hands. The crossguard had a prominent skull design. There was no helmet or head - instead, a brazier burning with a bright red flame.

"I link attack your Noble Ninja with Siberian!" he said, leaping forward and clubbing Momochitanba over the head with his guitar. Siberian seemed to teleport forward rather than walking, flickering in and out of existence each time she would move. She swept an arm clean through Momochitanba, severing him in two.

"Siberian, Penetrate!" said Robbie, as the woman teleported close to me. I was face-to-face with her wild grin as her arm punched straight through my stomach. She teleported back to her originally position.

"Clutchbone, attack the fighter!" The knight leapt at me, striking with his giant sword.

Robbie (in the form of Black Shuck) howled. "We're called Team Trash because we trash everyone in our way! Isn't that right?" he asked of the crowd behind him.

His teammates began chanting, "TRASH HIM! SMASH HIM! BASH HIM!"

"Fun fact," I heard Dave saying behind me. I turned to look at him in the stands. "They're called Team Trash because their name was too long, and the announcer at the last team tournament thought it would be confusing to call them Team Everyone and wouldn't call them Team But because it was an insult to butts."

He had shown up in his soccer kit, and was sitting between Eva and Emily (in full labcoat and goggles again) in the stands. Sphinxy was sitting in Emily's lap. I guess Eva must have called them here? More students had begun filling the previously near-empty stands as well. I even noticed the giant owl monster from the labs had shown up.

"You can do it, Timo!" yelled Sphinxy.

"We believe in you!" added Emily, scratching Sphinxy's ears.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
4/4/3 | 11/1/2

"Draw!" I looked at my hand, not sure what to charge away. He'd surely transform back into his buddy, both to defend himself and draw an extra card. Even if I destroyed his Skull Moon set spell he'd just chain the counter effect. I felt hopeless, even with the others cheering me on. I really, truly, didn't want to have to join his team and leave Dave and his friends... no, my friends.

His buddy made him immune to everything I could throw out short of a full-field link attack, and while he was transformed into it spells and monster effects couldn't touch him. He played all his set spells on the first turn so my Star Crusher couldn't stop them. It didn't have the Weapon attribute so I couldn't even use Shooting Star to stop it.

Spell and monster effects. My eyes opened wide as it suddenly hit me - when I was looking through my deck for Lethal Formation I didn't see a single copy of Secret Sword Shooting Star. I checked my drop zone to make sure.

She knew. _Eva knew what the only other Horror World user in the academy had in his deck_. She knew and she had given me something I could use against him!

"Eva, I could kiss you!" I blurted out.

"Fun fact, we all could - she's adorable!" said Dave with a wink, who had arrived late enough that he didn't know why I said that. Eva nodded, her expression remaining blank, but weirdly Emily was blushing.

"Charge and draw!" I said, filled with newfound confidence from my plan.

"I buddy call Agent Ninja Mamiya to the right!"

Robbie laughed loudly. "Ahahaha! What the hell are you thinking? There's no way your puny buddy can beat mine! 2000 power won't put a dent in my Iron Wolf!"

"When Agent Ninja Mamiya enters the field, I can put another card into my Lethal Formation!" I said, a card from my drop zone flying off into the impact's soul. I had to hope he'd take the bait...

"And I call Low-Rank Ninja Mikazukimaru to the center!" I said. The small ninja was dressed in pretty typical ninja garb, except for the large yellow plug sticking out the back of his head and the low-resolution monitor on his forehead. It currently had a pixelated crescent moon showing on the front.

"Since Mamiya's another ninja, Mikazukimaru's skill lets me draw a card!"

"Group Training!" shouted the small ninja boy. He raise a hand to high-five Mamiya, who silently returned it, and a new card came out of my deck.

"I call Air Slash Ninja Ryusei to the left!" I said, the green ninja appearing.

"Next, I'll cast Ceremony Of Exorcism." I said. "I can destroy any spell on your field, and I choose Runic Circle!"

"Counter! I pay one life to turn back into my buddy, and I draw a card!" yelled Robbie, changing shape again before the runes around him vanished. "Shuck returns to my hand!" he said, his hand cards shuffling to accept the new addition.

"Huh? I don't get it, why not smash one of the Moons?" Dave asked Emily. "Fun fact, Blood Moon's protecting his Transform!"

"It looks like Timo doesn't have item destruction in his hand. Maybe he's trying to starve Robbie of resources?" suggested Emily.

Eva shook her head, and silently pointed at my set impact.

Emily's eyes widened. "Eva, don't tell me you... oh, I get it!" she said, with a smile.

"Fun fact, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Mamiya, attack Siberian!"

My temporary buddy leapt forward to fight the monochrome woman. She flickered in and out of existence to dodge a couple of attacks, but then shattered when his laser-blade finally connected. He nodded, and leapt back to my side of the field.

I gestured to my other two monsters. "You two, link attack the fighter!"

Ryusei yelled "Scroll kunai!" as he flung his knives at the Iron Wolf. The little ninja slashed at Robbie too.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/5/1 | 7/1/3

"Maybe your buddy isn't so puny after all!" growled Robbie. "But you're one of us whether you like it or not - we'll have you on our team just to freak out the leader of the Warlords." He doubled over in laughter.

"My plan is perfect - just press-gang everyone into one team, so we have an answer to everything! And the more buddyfighters I pull in, the easier it is to force more to join!"

"You can't just make a team by forcing people to join!" Dave shouted in anger. "Fun fact, that's not a team - that's a... uh... help me out here, what's the word?"

"Granfalloon." said Eva.

Dave looked at her, now more baffled than angry, and shrugged.

"Draw! Charge and draw!" he said, playing a few discordant riffs on his guitar. "You idiot - I can easily get my Runic Circle set up again. I pay one gauge to cast..."

His eyes widened in horror. He seemed to be floating in outer space, stars and galaxies all around him. "No... there's no way!"

"I knew you couldn't resist replacing your perfect setup if I managed to break even one piece of it." I said, standing behind him. "So I put a Secret Sword Star Crusher into my impact right from the start. By paying three gauge, it nullifies your spell!" A blade of pure light formed in my hand, as I had no weapon and no sword core gadget. I slashed at him with it. "And deals three damage!"

We returned to the fight stage, Robbie/Ferrocious doubled over again - this time from the force of my impact.

"B-but even with only two gauge you can't possibly use another one of those!" he said.

He grinned, and arrogantly explained his own plan. "With the Graveyard Smash counter spell in my hand, you're finished for good - it will power up my Iron Wolf enough that even a full link attack won't be able to hurt me!"

"I'll call Mothman Kriaz to the right, just to be sure you can't get to me!"

The insectoid creature with glowing red eyes appeared. "Bzzzzzz..."

He raised his guitar high above his head, and leapt forwards for his own attack, clearly unwilling to transform and possibly get stuck as the low-defense Black Shuck if I survived his turn. "And I'll smash open your center myself so my monsters can tear you apart! Ahahahaha!" he yelled with manic glee.

He brought his guitar crashing down on the Low-Rank Ninja in my center.

Robbie once again found himself floating in space. "B-but... no! How did you...?"

"Secret Sword Starlight, triggers when you destroy one of my monsters." I said, telling him about the card Mamiya had put in my impact. That Eva had put in my deck.

"I get to pay two gauge to destroy one of your size two or less monsters, or one of your items, then I deal two damage." I said. "And while you're transformed into him, Ferrocious is an item!" slashing through him with the sword that appeared in my hand again.

"Fun fact, I know that card was one of Eva's favorites when she ran Katana World." said Dave with a smile, watching Robbie fall to his knees, once again human.

"Yes. It was." said the quiet girl.

"K-kriaz! Attack the fighter!" said Robbie, standing up to point at me.

"Buzzzzzkill!" said the mothman, flapping his wings to fly in front of me. Red rings of energy shot out from his eyes to hit me.

"Clutchbone! Attack the fighter too!"

"Art of Body Replacement!" I said, casting the defensive spell. The knight lumbering towards me stopped in his tracks. I was out of cards in my hand, but I was still in the game. And with my ninjas on the field, that's all that mattered.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/0/0 | 2/1/2

"Draw! Charge and draw!" I said. "I don't need to call any monsters here."

I pointed at Robbie. "...because the cards in your hand are Black Shuck and Graveyard Smash!"

"Urk!" he said, recoiling in panic as it set in that he couldn't even bluff here. "Kriaz, move to the center!"

The mothman stood in front of my opponent. But even with a defense boost I had a monster that could punch right through him.

"Ryusei, attack Kriaz!" The green ninja threw his Scroll Kunai again, destroying Kriaz.

"Mamiya, finish him off!"

The ninja leapt forward, slashing at the all-too-human Robbie. With no transformation to defend him, and no cards he could play from his hand, his life ticked down to zero and his flag shattered.

["Winner: Timo Zaitsev."]

The assembled crowd cheered. Robbie's team looked amongst themselves in confusion. Some of them fled, perhaps not believing he could hold his team together after a defeat like that.

 

* * *

 

"Whoa, check him out!" said Tess, watching from the back of the stands. "Like, I'm pretty sure we should tell her about this?"

"I don't think that'll be neccessary yet." said Michael. "If it becomes a problem, I'll deal with it myself."

 

* * *

 

Dave patted me on the back in congratulations, grinning. "Fun fact, that was one of the coolest turnarounds I've ever seen!"

"Yeah, thanks." I said. "And Eva... thanks for those cards before the match. You were absolutely right to side out the Shooting Stars."

She nodded silently.

"Where did you even get those impacts anyway?" asked Emily to Eva, adjusting her goggles. "I know there were some in the Katana World deck I built for you last time, but..."

Eva had taken a deck out of her pocket, and she silently handed it to Emily, who fanned the cards out. Her eyes widened.

"This is..." she said. "Have you been carrying this the whole time?"

"It was the first thing my friends ever gave me." Eva said quietly. "It felt right to keep it close."

"That's so... Oh, come here!" Emily said, blushing furiously. She pulled Eva into a hug, who simply stood and took it, expression unchanged. Dave laughed, and took a photo with his phone. He then put an arm around me and took a selfie of the two of us, Emily still hugging Eva in the background of the shot.

"There's one for the scrapbook! Fun fact, a few more wins like that and we're in with a shot of winning the tournament."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bloodsucker, Proxy  
> "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us."  
> Size 2 Monster / Horror World / Monster Mash - Undead / 5000 Power / 2 Criticals / 1000 Defense  
> When this deals damage reveal the top card of your deck. If it's a monster, gain 2 life and send it to the drop zone. Otherwise put it in the soul of this card and lose 1 life. [Soulguard]
> 
> Iron Wolf, Ferrocious  
> "A former monster-hunter who lost his humanity but kept his equipment."  
> Size 2 Monster / Horror World / Monster Mash / 1000 Power / 1 Criticals / 9000 Defense  
> [Transform][Equipment Change]
> 
> Curse Knight, Clutchbone  
> "The ghost of an executed knight. His head has been replaced with a perpetually burning brazier."  
> Size 2 Monster / Horror World / Monster Mash - Black Knight / 3000 Power / 3 Criticals / 6000 Defense
> 
> Black Shuck  
> "The legendary devil-dog himself."  
> Size 2 Monster / Horror World / Monster Mash / 5000 Power / 2 Criticals / 2000 Defense  
> [Transform][Equipment Change]
> 
> Mothman, Kriaz  
> Size 1 Monster / Horror World / Monster Mash / 4000 Power / 2 Criticals / 2000 Defense  
> [Move]
> 
> Distortion Beast, Siberian  
> "Less than monster or human, her very presence distorts reality."  
> Size 1 Monster / Horror World / Monster Mash / 5000 Power / 2 Criticals / 1000 Defense  
> [Call Cost][Pay 1 Gauge]  
> [Penetrate]
> 
> Graveyard Smash  
> Spell / Horror World / Enhance - Monster Mash  
> Choose and use one of the following effects.  
> * Choose a card with [Transform] from your drop zone, and add it to your hand.  
> * [Counter] Choose a «Monster Mash» in battle, and for this battle, give it power+3000, defense+3000, and [Counterattack].
> 
> Blood Moon  
> "The second moon of Horror World corrupts those under its baleful gaze."  
> Spell / Horror World / Terrain  
> [Set]  
> [Cast Cost] [Pay 1 gauge]  
> Items on your field cannot be returned to hand, nor destroyed, by the effects of your opponent's monsters or spells.  
> [Soulguard]  
> You can only [Set] one "Blood Moon" on your field.  
> Skull Moon  
> "Horror World monsters can transform under any full moon, but even a crescent grin from the third can be enough."  
> Spell / Horror World / Monster Mash  
> [Set]  
> [Counter] During your opponent's turn, if you are [Transform] into a card, you may pay 1 life. If you do, choose a card from your hand, and [Transform] into that card by paying its [Transform] cost. You may only use this ability once per turn.  
> You can only [Set] one "Skull Moon" on your field.
> 
> Runic Circle  
> Spell / Horror World / Magic Power - Rune  
> [Set][Soulguard]  
> [Cast Cost][Pay 1 Gauge]  
> When you [Transform], draw a card. You may only use this ability once per turn.  
> You can only [Set] one "Runic Circle" on your field.


	6. Into The Underworld

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Timo buddyfights against Dave's dad - his history teacher, who was a member of Earth's first expedition to Dungeon World. The old man's deck is full of outdated cards, but his buddy knows how to run the deck better than he does!

It was the day after my buddyfight against Robbie. Dave and myself were sitting on a rooftop bench at lunch, opening a box of booster packs that he had brought with him. I already had Emily's Katana World deck (and the 4000 Festival one she refused to take back), as well as the impacts from Eva's old deck, but he insisted the ones I opened were for me to keep (along with any Katana World cards he pulled). I suppose actually owning some of my own cards would be nice, and this way I had some small chance of finding a Buddy Rare.

"Dragons! All dragons!" he said, fanning out a pack for me to see. Admittedly some were Duel Dragons and Dragowizards rather than from the dragon worlds, but he still rolled his eyes and said "Thanks Kyoya!" before adding most of them to a pile of cards he intended to give to Emily.

I opened a pack as well. "A couple of spells, a cute shiba dog from Dungeon World, a Katana World card... apparently it's a Skull Warrior?" I said, looking at the Godly-speed Natsubame I had just pulled.

"Oh yeah, Skull Warriors." Dave said, nodding. "They're undead monsters from Katana World. Fun fact, the monsters in Eva's old deck were mostly them because of course they were."

He laughed. "Most of the cards that work better with Lethal Formation are Ninjas, but maybe you'll find one or two Emily can work into your deck."

I shrugged. "They do look kind of cool." I admitted.

Dave glanced at his phone. "Well, looks like lunch break's over. Fun fact, I've got math class with Emily next, assuming she shows up." he said, stuffing the remaining packs from his half of the booster box into his backpack, which he then slung over one shoulder.

"Isn't that three buildings over?" I asked.

He grinned, and turned on his buddy skill. "I'll make it." he said, before zooming off into the air.

I laughed and shook my head. I had history class in this building, so it wouldn't be more than a minutes walk for me. I pocketed my boosters and headed downstairs.

 

* * *

 

My history teacher was an older man with a deep tan and gray hair, who wore a tweed jacket. He had a somewhat scraggly beard. Despite looking the very image of an older college professor he insisted that everyone just call him Professor V - I had no idea what his actual name was. He spent most of the lesson talking about how many of the other worlds had some overlap with Earth's history, down to Hero World seemingly diverging with ours less than 200 years before we came into contact with them. There were some intriguing parallels even aside from ones such as Danger World having a Second World War that somehow spanned almost its entire recorded history.

"Ah, a year or two ago one of my students tried to cheat on her history report by visiting Dragon World and rounding up the Dragon Knight versions of historical figures." he said, idly walking around the front of the classroom.

"But Dragon Knights Lincoln, Napoleon and Socrates, as much as their knowledge and skill can be respected, don't have a terribly in-depth understanding of our world's history." He laughed.

The bell rang, and I stood up to leave.

"Timo Zaitsev, may I have a word with you in my office?" said Professor V.

 

* * *

 

It was strange seeing his office. Several glass display cases around the room had valuable looking objects - a solid-gold sword with jewels set into the very blade, a black tome wrapped in chains, a staff that resembled a wooden claw gribbing a red orb. There was an old model of core gadget - the core was in a whip's handle - in one case, standing out because it seemed comparatively plain. Mounted on the walls were a variety of framed photographs. A small red dragon with prominent horns and some kind of gold necklace was curled up in a dog bed in the corner, snoring - his buddy?

We had sat down on chairs on opposite sides of the desk.

"I have heard that you had an altercation with some other boys yesterday." he said.

Oh, right, Team Trash.

"Ah, you're not in trouble if that's what you're asking. My son said there was nothing to worry about, and the recording shows he's telling the truth, but I'm just making sure." Oh, it had just now clicked what the V stood for.

"You're Dave's dad?" I asked.

He laughed. "You don't see the resemblance? Ah, I suppose I am getting on in years."

"Ah, those were the days." he said, gesturing to a framed photograph on his wall. "Adventuring around with Alan Schwarzschild, old 'Iron Claw' Ikarino and my dear wife-to-be Lauria." He was much younger in the photo, standing in a group of people beside a man with his hair styled in an elaborate claw shape, another man with a pompadour hairstyle and an impressive moustache (Michael Schwarzschild's father?) and a woman with long red hair wearing a fedora and carrying the whip core gadget I had seen earlier. Everyone was wearing what looked like a more armored version of the Buddy Police uniform. Professor V's hair was a similar shade of blue to Dave's in this photo.

He picked up a framed photograph on his desk. "Of course, a few years after Dave was born we decided to move back to Earth." He showed me a picture of the red haired woman, a young child in a green dress - Dave? - and himself, now visibly many years older than the previous photo. Off in the distance was a castle, perched on a clifftop overlooking the sea. "Ah, but she always did love adventuring, and on one ill-fated trip to Legend World, well..." he said wistfully. Oh. I guess that's why Dave never talked about his mom.

"Ah, but I don't mean to burden you with an old man's regrets. You know, I've had my buddy for over thirty years now." he said, smiling. "Of course, not being a professional buddyfighter like Alan I haven't actually changed my deck in a long time, so it must seem woefully outdated compared to up-and-coming fighters like you."

"I'm not exactly a great fighter." I said, rubbing the back of my head with one hand and somehow feeling I needed to apologize for giving him that false impression. "I only really got my deck a week ago, and it's not even mine."

"From what my dear boy has been saying about you I have no doubt you'll grow to be a great buddyfighter, in time." he said.

"Ah, but talking about all these old memories... I feel like I could go for a buddyfight myself." He said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "What do you say to a match against your teacher?"

 

* * *

 

As a teacher, Professor Vervayens had easily booked the fighting stage for after school. I had texted my friends about it, and they were in the stands along with a crowd of other students.

"Knowledge is the sword that can't be seen. Luminize - Invisible Edge!"

"Legions of the labyrinth, rise and fight by our side once more!" His core deck case turned into a silvery-blue cloak around his shoulders. He looked as if he had his hand on his heart as he spoke the chant due to the core being the clasp of his cloak. "Luminize - The Serpent King's Domain!"

"I'm with Katana World!" I said, Agent Ninja Mamiya silently standing by me once again. Even if he wasn't my real buddy I was glad to have him in deck, especially after that last buddyfight.

"Always and only, I fight for Dungeon World." he said,. The red dragon that was curled up in his office earlier - Rain? - had coiled its tail around the flag to hold it up. I hadn't fought the Thompson with a Dungeon World deck, but I knew his deck was based around link-attacking with adventurers. Professor V's dragon buddy certainly didn't look like an adventurer, though.

The professor looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm, charge and draw." he said.

"I pay one gauge to call Demon Lord Joker Grunwald to the center, and I put one card into his soul."

Joker Grunwald appeared, large horns sprouting from his blonde hair. In his elaborate outfit he certainly looked the part of an RPG end boss. The demon lord looked at me, and said "Welcome, young adventurer, to your doom."

"Joker Grunwald, attack the fighter!"

"But of course." said the demon lord, slashing at me with his sword.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/2/6 | 10/2/5

"Draw! Charge and draw!" I said, and pondered my move for a few moments.

"Joker Grunwald's respectable defense and soulguard might make him a tough nut for Timo's deck to crack." said Emily.

"Fun fact, he's got the same statline as my Sphinxy." said Dave, patting the tiny armorknight on the head.

"Ah, I see my godson is here today as well. Well met, young David." said Grunwald.

"Hey Grunwald!" yelled Dave from the stands, grinning.

"A piece of historical trivia - Joker Grunwald was also the very first Demon Lord my expedition group met. With his help we were able to find many dungeons and offer buddy contracts to the Dungeon Enemies and Demon Lords living within, rather than just the Adventurers and Knights who were easily found."

Joker Grunwald added, "Of course these days they would just teleport straight to the end of my dungeon. Takes all the fun out of it." The professor and the demon lord both laughed.

"I call Air Slash Ninja Ryusei to the left, and Formless Jailer Izumonokami to the right!" I said, as the green-clad ninjas appeared. I couldn't call him to the center but it was a small price to pay for their wallbreaker-level attacks. Izumonokami also appeared, wearing his grinning mask and a black bodysuit with orange markings. Not very stealthy but hey. I needed his extra attack rather than his soulguard effect right now.

"I also pay one gauge to call Agent Ninja Linzo to the center!" The ninja appeared, practically a blue palette swap of the orange Mamiya, even down to the goggles. "Linzo gives me a Secret Sword Lethal Formation from my deck!"

I pointed at Joker Grunwald. "Ryusei, attack!"

"Scroll kunai!" he yelled, unleashing the knives from his scroll against Grunwald, destroying him. He reformed with soulguard.

"How rude." said Joker Grunwald. "But I suppose James wouldn't want to waste defensive spells on me so early in the fight. It's important to conserve all your elixirs for the final battle."

"Linzo and Izumonokami, link attack Grunwald!"

"I'll be back, in the sequel." said Grunwald, shattering.

"Final phase - I'll set Lethal Formation with a Secret Sword from my deck!" I said, briefly pondering what I knew about Dungeon World's other monsters before making my choice. I chose the scroll that I thought had the best chance of being helpful. "And that's all for my turn."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/2/4 | 10/2/5

"Draw!" said Professor V. "Hmm, I don't need another of you right now... charge and draw!"

"I cast - Dangerous Fuse!" he said. "I reveal one of the top two cards of my deck, and shuffle it with the other. Then you pick one - if it has the same name as the one I revealed, I add the cards to my hand. Otherwise they go to my gauge."

He revealed a Mameshiba Cobalt from his deck, the same cute dog monster I had pulled from a pack earlier. Another card from his deck floated out. They then began switching places with each other rapidly.

Whilst they were shuffling, the Professor spoke. "Oh, and a historical fact for my audience - Dungeon World didn't have much gauge-boosting power for a long time. Dangerous Fuse is technically a very cost effective card, but simply isn't as reliable as more recent offerings." He smiled as the two cards stop. "Now, did you drop in a gold axe, or a silver axe?" he said, gesturing to the left card then the right.

"I choose the card on my right!" I said, pointing. It turned around, revealing an item card - Staff Of Monster Master Alerta.

"Ah, just as well. Then to the gauge they go." he said. "And they are immediately used to pay for the Staff Of Monster Master Alerta in my hand - Equip!" The staff appeared in his hands. He twirled it idly, in a manner that reminded me of how Dave held his core gadget sometimes - I suppose this is who he picked up that habit from, and this might even be why he had a staff core gadget at all.

"Now, I pay two gauge. And I buddy call to the center!" He pointed his staff to the center position. "My dear old friend Guardian Dragon Of The Ruins, Meteor Rain! Lend me your strength!"

The small dragon leapt forward, turning into a much larger dragon. His head was now framed by scaled red horns, and he wore a gold breastplate studded with rubies. His claws were also gold-tipped. "It's about time, James. I was beginning to think you were going to leave me out of this one." said the dragon in a deep voice with a thick Scottish accent.

Oh. That'd be the Serpent King, then.

"Fun fact, Guardian Dragon Meteor Rain is neither a Guardian nor a Dragon - he's the one and only Dungeon Master!" said Dave, grinning at his dad's buddy taking center stage.

"There aren't any cards that care about the Dungeon Master attribute." said Emily, flipping through her notebook. "That said he's got double-soulguard and penetrate, not to mention 10000 attack power and a counter-speed effect that destroys monsters by throwing away two Dungeon Enemies."

"Of course, he also has Lifelink 3, so if you can defeat my buddy three times you'll set me back quite a bit." said the professor. "Such is the price for summoning one of the strongest monsters in all of Dungeon World."

"The lad is trying to trick us with his set impact." snorted Meteor Rain. "He set it after destroying Grunwald and calling a high-defense monster to his center, so he must have expected a monster with a lot of power to clear the way for another low-power high-critical attack."

My eyes widened in surprise. His buddy knew how to play a deck? Not only that, but he knew how to run a deck from an entirely different world? He had made an alarmingly good guess at what kind of impact I'd pick.

Wait, can your buddy give advice like that?

"Hmm, yes. You make an excellent point, Rain. Though I'll be using you to clear the center either way." said Professor V. "I call Mameshiba Cobalt to the left, and Fate Skeleton to the right." A skeleton in adventuring gear making chittering noises with his jaw as he appeared on the right.

The cobalt, an adorable little dog person with a dagger in one hand and a shield with a meat design in the other appeared on the left with a happy "Yip!". I recognized it as the same Dungeon Enemy monster I pulled from a pack earlier.

"Mameshiba, how's the family?" asked Professor V.

The cobalt turned to face him, and barked a reply. "Yip! Yip yip yip! Yip yip!"

"Ah, really?" He smiled at the dog-like humanoid. "Give her my congratulations when you get home. Oh, and attack the green ninja, there's a good chap."

The dog-man struck at Ryusei('s ankles), destroying him.

"Fate Skeleton, deal with the orange ninja, please." The skeleton marched forwards to strike down my Izumonokami. "Good to see those old bones are still in working order."

"Rain, you know what to do."

"Meteor smash!" yelled the dragon (or Dungeon Master, I suppose?), leaping forward to smash Linzo with one golden claw. "And penetrate!" he said, breathing fire on me.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/2/4 | 11/1/1

"The staff makes Meteor Rain more difficult to deal with." noted Eva.

"Fun fact, Staff Of Monster Master Alerta is Dungeon World's version of Dragoenergy." said Dave. "It only gives 2000 instead of 3000, but it can be used every turn and that counterattack makes Rain a tough nut to crack!"

The professor smiled. "As you know, my dear boy Dave used to be a Dungeon World user." He absently twirled the staff in his hands again. "Why, he spent years trying to figure out how to reliably beat this very deck, so he knows it like the back of his hand. I have rarely been as proud as I was on the day when he managed."

"After all, that was when he had just met his buddy." he said, chuckling. Meteor Rain joined in with a much louder laugh of his own.

"Lad, it's your turn now." said the professor's buddy monster.

"Oh, right!" I said. "Draw! Charge and draw!"

I had some options here, but no easy way to deal with a buddy that had double-soulguard who could effectively counterattack once per turn. Not to mention the chance of Professor V using Meteor Rain's monster destruction effect - He'd have to discard two Dungeon Enemies from his hand, but since he had implied he could have link-attacked through Linzo with size 0s it was pretty likely he had at least one.

"I buddy call Agent Ninja Mamiya to the left!" I said, my temporary buddy appearing on the field. "And when I do, I put a card from my hand or dropzone into the soul of Lethal Formation." It had to be the hand this time, as I hadn't emptied out my gauge enough to see the one I wanted. Still, that worked well enough with the other cards I had, even if it meant I couldn't gain a life back from the buddy gift.

"I call another Ryusei to the right!" The second of my Ryuseis appeared. I didn't have many more cards that could break 6000 defense by themselves, and drawing another copy was pretty unlikely.

"Next, I'll call Low-Rank Ninja Mikazukimaru to the center, and draw a card!"

"Group training!" said the little ninja. He high-fived Mamiya as a card flew into my hand. He also went over to high-five Ryusei, but that didn't give me anything.

"Uh, okay." I said. "Next, I'll cast Clear Serenity to refill my gauge!"

"Ryusei, attack the center!" I said. Ryusei flung his knives at Meteor Rain.

"Scroll kunai!" said the ninja. The professor looked thoughtfully at his hand.

"Using my Burning Meteor effect here would be a waste, James." said Meteor Rain, before the blades struck, destroying him. He reformed. "This isn't even my final form!"

"My buddy has another layer of Soulguard, so you'll need to deal with him twice more."

"Now Mikazukimaru and Mamiya, attack the center!"

"Ah, I can't stop this attack, but I can certainly make it costly for you." said Professor V, pointing his staff at Meteor Rain. "Staff Of Monster Master Alerta powers up my buddy by giving him counterattack, for one battle each turn."

Meteor Rain reformed, and destroyed Mamiya.

The professor and I were floating in space. "Ah, one of your Secret Swords?" he asked. "I can't quite recall which one that would be. I'd ask Rain but, well, here we are."

"My Secret Sword Starlight goes off when you destroy one of my monsters." I answered. "I pay two gauge to deal two damage to you, and I also get to destroy either a size 2 or smaller monster or one item."

He chuckled. "Well, at least my buddy is safe for now. Meteor Rain is simply too big to be destroyed by your card." He was right - since his buddy wouldn't drop below size 3 from effects and wasn't like Iron Wolf Ferrocious, who turns into an item, I had no way to sneak around that restriction.

I held out my hand, and a sword made of light appeared in it. "I destroy your Staff Of Monster Master!" I said, slashing at him. We reappeared on the fight stage again.

"The lad destroyed the Monster Master's Staff." said Meteor Rain. "He certainly has his priorities in order."

"Fun fact, Alerta is a really strong item if you've got everything set up, but has no attack or critical and costs so much gauge to play that my dad probably won't get another one out." said Dave, to nobody in particular. Emily already knew, having used it in building a couple of Dungeon Enemy decks (including a Steel Golem Futoff deck that had caused me a lot of trouble the one time Dangerous Fuse had given her enough gauge for it) and Eva had almost certainly seen it used in recorded matches.

"I end my turn." I said.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
6/4/1 | 9/1/1

"Hmm, we're not in quite as good a position as we were before." said Professor V.

"We can win easily enough by going on the offensive, James." said Rain. "I'm out of soulguard but it won't matter if we can land a decisive blow this turn."

The professor nodded. "Draw! Hmm, there's no space for you on the field... Charge, and draw!"

"Ah, here we go - Dangerous Fuse!" he said. "You know how it works by now. I reveal..." he looked at the top two cards of his deck and laughed. "Well, isn't that just typical."

"I reveal Dangerous Fuse!" he said, and the two cards shuffled around again.

He pointed at me. "As we say in Dungeon World, 'but thou must' make a choice."

"Uh, the left one?" I said.

"Your left?" he said. I nodded to confirm. Dangerous Fuse flipped around. "I add Dangerous Fuse and another card to my hand."

"Without that gauge boost, I simply can't afford... ah, no matter." he said, shaking his head. "Rain, attack the center monster!"

Meteor Rain swiped at the small ninja with a claw, destroying him instantly. "Meteor smash!"

"And Meteor Rain deals penetrate damage!" said my opponent. I didn't need the reminder as his buddy was currently spewing a thick torrent of flame at me.

"Hmm. Rain, any guess as to what the specific first card he put in Lethal Formation was?"

"I couldn't say. The lad could have used Morning Star or Glittering Star."

"Ah, the difference is?" said the professor, rubbing his temple with a finger

It was almost surreal seeing this gigantic dragon-like monster turn his head to face his buddy and discuss what my card could be. "Morning Star stops a solo attack, Glittering Star stops a link attack. Either one could be possible."

"And if I recall, one of them deals a full five damage?"

The dungeon master nodded. "Glittering Star."

"In that case the less risky move is to attack one at a time. Mameshiba? Attack the fighter."

The dog-man yipped happily and leapt forward. He stopped mid-air, floating in space with only myself and the professor.

"Ah well, three damage it is."

I nodded, and sliced through Mameshiba with my temporary sword.

We returned to the fight stage. "Fate Skeleton, destroy his Air Slash Ninja!" he said. I didn't really expect him to leave Ryusei alone, but at least I didn't need a 6000 attack wallbreaker right now.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/1/1 | 6/1/3

"Draw!" Okay, so he had two copies of Dangerous Fuse, and most likely at least one Dungeon Enemy in his hand. I weighed my options. "Charge and draw!" This might do the trick.

"I retire my Agent Ninja Mamiya to call another Mamiya to the left." The ninja was destroyed and reformed. "Which means I can refill my Lethal Formation!" I said, picking a card from my drop zone.

"James, now may be our last chance to use my power." said the dungeon master.

"Ah, yes! By discarding two Dungeon Enemy monsters from my hand," he said, throwing away a Mameshiba Cobalt and another Meteor Rain, "Meteor Rain can destroy any monster, in response to your call effect!"

"Burning meteor!" yelled the buddy monster, before spitting out a huge fireball that incinerated Mamiya.

"By using his counter effect in response to Mamiya's he avoided the chance of being hit by a Secret Sword." said Emily.

"So the last effect declared is the first one to resolve?" said Dave. "Fun fact, I probably knew about that but just never thought about it."

"Timo can't counter this." said Eva.

Emily nodded. "You can't have more than two effects in a chain, so Timo can't cast use any spells or effects to respond to it."

"Cast, Hundred Demons' Tome Of Judgment!" I said, holding the spell card up. "With less than five life I can toss my hand to draw 3 cards!"

I looked at my new hand and nodded. This should be enough.

"I call Lock Ninja Setsui to the center!" I said. "And I call Leaping Ninja Sarutobi to the right!"

A ninja wearing black with a lock for a headband appeared, along with Sarutobi.

"What's up?" said the ninja wearing rocket boots, looking around. He turned to face me, looking disappointed. "Hey, there's no set spells for me to trash!"

"Uh, sorry?" I said. "His deck just doesn't have any."

"I'm just messin' with you. Who do you want me to attack?"

"Uh, link attack Meteor Rain with Lock Ninja?" I said, cautious of any other combat tricks. Even with Alerta gone I had to watch out for defensive spells.

"The big guy? Okay!" said the ninja cheerfully. He leapt forward.

"Lock hurter!" yelled Setsui, flinging shurikens with keyholes in the middle at the Dungeon Master. Sarutobi's attack struck as well, destroying Meteor Rain. A card went into my gauge from Setsui's effect.

"Well played, lad." said the dungeon master, as he was destroyed for the final time. The professor's life ticked down three points because of Lifelink.

"Lock Ninja Setsui has a critical of 0, but when he destroys a monster he gives you a gauge, which a Lethal Formation deck can badly need." explained Emily to Dave. "Plus he has 5000 power, so in a case like this he's valuable for wallbreaking."

"Fun fact, if you tried to put a monster with 0 critical in my deck I'd have no idea why." said Dave. "Danger World is all-damage, all the time!" he said, raising a fist and grinning.

Emily nodded, clasping her hands. "That's a big part of what makes your playstyle different from Timo's. His deck can afford to not hit at all for a turn because his set impacts can turn the game around even while he's defending."

Dave shrugged. "You don't need to turn the game around if you can keep damaging your opponent enough that they can't catch up, right Eva?"

"Precision removal of threats can be worth more than damage." she answered. Dave fake-pouted at that.

"I guess that's the end of my turn." I said.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/3/1 | 3/1/1

"Draw!" he looked at his hand, and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Ah, I won't even bluff here - I'm charging away my fourth copy of Dangerous Fuse. Charge, and draw!"

"Cast, Dangerous Fuse!" he said. "And I reveal Divine Protection Of Shalsana!"

The two cards shuffled around. If he got another Divine Protection he'd almost certainly survive any attack I could make.

"Now, two paths diverge - choose correctly and there's simply no way for me to win this." he said wistfully.

"I choose the card on the my left!" I said.

"My buddy - Meteor Rain." he said, revealing the card. Both cards went to the gauge.

"Ah, I suppose there's nothing for it. I call Doberman Cobalt to the center!"

Another dog man appeared, this one resembling a larger doberman instead of the small shiba dog that my impact destroyed earlier. He was wearing a suit of metal armor, and holding a polearm in his hands.

"Doberman, attack the Lock Ninja!" he said.

"In the name of Tosa Hound!" yelled the cobalt, swinging at Setsui with his weapon.

"Art Of Body Replacement!" I said, stopping that attack.

"Fate Skeleton, attack Sarutobi!"

The skeleton cut down Sarutobi, to a cry of "Weaksauce!" from the ninja.

"Ah, and I suppose that's all I can do."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/3/0 | 3/4/0

"Draw! Charge and draw!" The card in my hand should be enough to end the game right now, expecially since Professor V was out of cards in his hand.

"I'll call Medium-Rank Ninja, Hangetsumaru to the right!" I said. The ninja was a taller one than Mikazukimaru, but dressed in the same style. His headband had a higher-resolution moon, this one a half-moon instead of a crescent.

"Next I'll activate Hangetsumaru's effect, sending him to the drop zone by paying one gauge and one life." The ninja nodded solemnly, and shattered. "Which brings back two size one ninjas - Mamiya and Mikazukimaru, to the left and right!"

I took the chance to put another Starlight in my Lethal Formation, although at this point I wouldn't need it. I also got to draw a card.

"Setsui, attack the Cobalt!"

"Lock hurter!" yelled the ninja, throwing his locks again.

"Mamiya! Attack the fighter!" I said. The ninja leapt forward, and slashed at the professor. His Dungeon World flag shattered.

"[Winner: Timo Zaitsev]"

The crowd of students cheered. Dave and Emily quickly floated down on their buddy skills (the first time I had seen hers - a blue broomstick-shaped one that she stood on facing sideways). Eva lazily drifted down with her own blue flame buddy skill after them - apparently the ghostly flames were called hitodama, which she had mentioned when we were leaving my match against the werewolf deck.

Professor V shook my hand. "Congratulations on a well-played game, young man."

"Congrats, Timo! Fun fact, it took me a lot more than one try to beat my dad." he said, patting me on the back.

"You're really getting the hang of that deck!" said Emily, smiling.

Eva just nodded at me.

The professor laughed, and turned to Dave. "So this would be the team you're putting together for this year." he said, scratching his chin. He turned to Emily "Ah, that deck was almost certainly the work of young miss Primrose. How are your mothers?"

"They're both off on holiday in America." said Emily. "Dennis and I are staying at the dorms. I'll be sure to tell them you're asking for them."

"Ah, and Eva. I've heard you finally have a buddy." Kardor appeared, and offered a hand, which the professor nearly shook before realizing it was a hook. Both of them laughed, and Kardor offered his real hand.

"Hmm. Come to think of it... Zaitsev, Zaitsev... where have I heard that name before?"

Oh no, please don't let him ask about...

"Oh! Your father must be Battle Chef Zaitsev! Why, just the other day..."

"We, uh, don't get along." I said, thankful that he didn't ask about Nat.

"Oh, never mind." he said. "I apologize for bringing that up."

"Ah well, I wish you all luck in your tournament." said Professor V. "I suppose Schwarzschild's son still isn't likely to move to your team?" he asked Dave, who looked away as if embarrassed.


	7. The Dark Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of the members of Team Warlords, Schwarzschild, pays a visit to his childhood friend Dave with an offer - become the fourth member of the Warlords and rule the school together, or be crushed by the mightiest team Karras Academy has ever seen!  
> New Horror World cards from the intro are in the notes for this chapter.

"Cast. Spirit Transfusion." said Eva. "I move all soul cards from Gorgas to Burning Wand."

"Oh no!" said Emily, as a ribbon of purple energy briefly connected her two monsters. Her center monster, Gorgas, now had no soul left to use Soulguard.

Dave and myself were watching a buddyfight between Emily and Eva in the lab after school, and despite a rocky start putting her on 1 lifepoint Eva looked confident she could turn the game around. At least, as confident as she ever seemed with her rarely-changing expression.

"Grisly Mannequin becomes a monster. Call to center." she said. One of her set spells vanished, and a mannequin appeared in her center position, with half of its face cracked open. A skull with some rotting flesh was visible under that broken half.

"Mannequin reduces in size by one for each card in soul."

"Fun fact, Mannequin's got three cards in soul now!" said Dave. I thought back over the buddyfight - Murder Crow, Sheet Ghost and Kardor had all been moved there by Eva's own destruction spells and their Haunt effects. "So her spell-monster is size 0! Shame he can't get Soulguard."

"I pay one gauge. Call to the right, Little Frankensteiner." said Eva. A small blond girl wearing a surgical mask and a white dress with blood splatters appeared, holding a whirring drill.

"I'm nearly nine years old, and they call me a slaughtering machine!" said Frankensteiner, waving her drill around in the air.

"She calls a monster from Grisly Mannequin's soul. Call, Murder Crow. To the left."

Murder Crow appeared, lifting Gorgas in her talons to drop him to his death. "Dead drop."

"Mannequin, attack Emily."

"Ki ki ki ki ki!", the undead mannequin chittered, cracks appearing in its stiff limbs so they could move, letting it lurch forwards to strike at Emily.

"Cast - Magical Goodbye!" said Emily, send the spell-monster back to Eva's hand.

"Looks like that size reduction cuts both ways." I commented.

"Frankensteiner, attack."

"Yay!" said the tiny girl, striking at Emily with her drill.

"Murder Crow, attack."

"Death from above!" she said, swooping at Emily.

"[Winner: Eva Friday]"

In an instant Emily was already across the lab, her hands clasped as she spoke to Eva. "Are you really sure you won't let me look through that deck?"

"...maybe someday." said Eva. "I... won't let anyone else take them yet."

Huh? What was that about? Maybe Kardor was just a really jealous buddy who didn't want his cards being handed around.

"Oh, all right." said Emily. "But there's so many combos I can think of for just the cards I've seen in that deck... If I could just get my hands on cards like those..."

"Fun fact, those cards aren't all she wants to get her hands on." said Dave in a fake-whisper to me. Emily blushed beet red. Eva stared at Dave silently.

"Hey, I'd love to stay but it's getting late." I said, interrupting the awkward silence. "I'm the only one of us without a buddy skill so if I want to have dinner at a reasonable time, well... you know how it is."

"Catch you tomorrow, Timo!" said Dave, with a cheery wave.

 

* * *

 

Dave lay on one of the rooftop benches, watching the sun set. Sphinxy was curled up beside him.

"David, a moment of your time." said a voice from above.

Michael Schwarzschild floated down on his buddy skill - purple blades that seemed to extend from the tips of his shoes.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Dave, leaping to his feet. Sphinxy followed suit.

"Come now, can't I talk to an old friend?" he said, arms wide open.

"We're not friends."

"Dave! Look at his knife-shoes!" said Sphinxy.

Dave turned to Sphinxy, a smile on his face again. "Fun fact, his new buddy skill is ice skates."

"Ever since he abandoned his old buddy." continued Dave, his expression becoming neutral as he turned to the older boy again.

"I came to make you an offer. Strictly off the record, of course." said Michael, ignoring the ice skates remark and pushing up his glasses with a finger. "I think you'll find it most agreeable for everyone. And, if you'd like, we can have a buddyfight - for old time's sake." he smirked.

"So what, we go to the fight stage?"

"Not quite. I'd rather this didn't get back to my team's leader just yet." he explained. "Team politics. You know how it is."

"Fun fact, I can't say I do."

 

* * *

 

It was late, so the basketball court was abandoned when they landed there.

"Okay, spit it out. Fun fact, I don't really want to talk to you more than I have to."

"Simply put? I don't fully agree with the way my team is being run." said the Warlord. "Miss Zaitsev insists on keeping our team at three members for the moment. I'd rather have a reserve member of the team, just in case. And that reserve member could be you." he said, extending a gloved hand towards Dave.

"Fun fact, you made it pretty clear you didn't want me on your team last time around." said Dave.

The older boy laughed. "You weren't ready for the Warlords last year."

"You weren't even on that team when you said we should form our own one together." said Dave. "You know, back when we were kids? When our dads would just leave us to buddyfight while they went off drinking together?"

"You managed to scramble together your own team in a matter of weeks. Even if you lost against us in the very first round it was almost an admirable attempt." He smirked. "Now I feel you'd be at least as good a Warlord as Team Trash's new lieutenant, even with your useless buddy."

Sphinxy hissed.

Dave shook his head. "I can't believe I used to look up to you." he said.

"I can assure you, our current lineup is stronger for having lost Thompson. And if you're not with us, you'll be against us." said Michael.

Dave smiled. "You also lost Enterprise. Fun fact, I hear he's off messing around in Hero World since he graduated."

Michael laughed. "Tess and Natasha are more than enough to make up for 'Enterprise' Jones." he said, practically pronouncing the air quotes around his former team leader's nickname. "Remember, you only faced two of us last time. Now we have better buddies, better decks and all the advantages of being reigning champions."

He spread his arms to the sides. "Those are all advantages you could have. They'd certainly help you on the way to greatness."

"I won't be taking your offer, _Schwarzschild._ " spat Dave. "Not now, not ever."

"Oh? Not even one of your 'fun facts'?" Schwarzschild chuckled. "Well, while we're here, why don't we find out how far you've come?" he said, raising his core deck case in one hand. It turned into his core gadget - a black book with an intricate eye design using the core set on the front cover as the pupil.

Dave sighed, and followed suit by turning his core deck case into his question mark staff.

"Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow! Luminize - Riddle Of Bullets!" said Dave, pulling his opening hand from the staff.

"The all-seeing eye is upon you." said Michael, the book core gadget opening and rapidly flicking through its pages as it floated in front of him. He closed the book in his right hand, the ocular-themed pattern around the core on the front cover pointed towards Dave. He used his left hand to pull out his opening cards. "Luminize - Das Schwarze Auge!"

"I'm with Danger World!"

"The Parade of Hundred Demons!" said Michael. His buddy, Death Master Lelag Monarch, stood by him. The demon lord was holding the Hundred Demons flag in one hand, and holding a skull-topped staff flickering with purple energy in the other.

"Das... Schwarze... Auge... uh, your deck's called 'The Black Egg'?" asked Dave.

"...No, not quite. But as you've probably noticed this isn't my usual Dungeon World deck. Lelag Monarch can fight under the Hundred Demons flag as well."

"Charge and draw!" Dave looked at his hand. "I pay one gauge to call Armorknight Jet Fighter to the right!"

The plane monster appeared, covered with spikes and blades. "Beep boop." it said in a monotone voice.

"And I equip my Infinite Armament, Dangerous Cradle!" he said, the four-pointed star surrounded by small portals appearing by his side. "I pay one gauge to move Demonic Spear Swirling Darkness to my weapon's soul! Fun fact, that makes my critical 4!"

The black and purple spear emerged from one of Cradle's portals.

"Now, I attack you directly!"

"I cast Scorn Of Gremlin." said his opponent as a grinning green gremlin materialized to block Dave's attack, holding up a wrench-like wand in one hand. "This nullifies any solo attack."

"I end my turn." said Dave.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
10/1/4 - 10/2/5

"I'll draw." said Schwarzschild, looking closely at the cards in his hand. He pushed his glasses up with a finger. "I'll charge, and draw."

"I call Armorknight Evil Eye to the left position." he said. A mechanical eyeball appeared, floating off the ground and surrounded by metal tentacles like some kind of robotic Beholder. "Proto Golem Jariim, to the right position." Jariim was a squat gray golem with a single red dot for an eye, glowing in a face that was barely above the middle of its spherical torso.

"I also call Evil Dryad to the center position." he said. A purple-skinned woman with green hair (and horns), wearing a skimpy green and gold top with long gloves appeared, holding a bow. Beneath the waist her body was a mass of dark purple tree roots. She giggled.

"Fun fact, those are all size 0 monsters." said Dave. "Let me guess, you're going to let them get destroyed so your buddy can bring them back?"

Schwarzschild smirked. "Your skills of observation truly are wasted on your team." he replied.

"I move Jet Fighter to the center!" said Dave.

"Of course. When your monster moves, Evil Eye's Thunder Mine effect activates." A serpentine creature resembling a small Yamigedo emerged from Evil Eye's pupil, glowing with purple energy. It rammed into Dave, who recoiled from the strike.

"When one of my cards deals effect damage, my Proto Golem adds two cards to my gauge." he said, two cards flying out from the black book he was holding.

"Dryad and Eye will link-attack Jet Fighter." Beams shot out of Evil Eye's many tentacles, and the Dryad fired an arrow at the plane. Together they destroyed it.

"Proto Golem attacks directly. And that will be all for my turn." he said as the golem swung a bulky arm at Dave's head.

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/1/4 - 10/5/3

"Draw! Charge and draw!" said Dave. "I pay one gauge to move Hundred Demons Spear Aratogame from my dropzone to the soul of my weapon, giving it 7 critical in total!"

"I call Armorknight Battleborg to the right!" he said. A metal golem the size of an adult human appeared, with a steel ribcage-like exoskeleton covering its torso. Its head resembled a medieval knight's helmet crossed with the head of a Cylon, with a red light glowing in the visor and flickering from left to right. Its left arm seemed to me made out of guns bolted together, though blades and gun barrels protruded from all over its body.

"And I buddy call Armorknight Sphinx, to the left!" Sphinxy leapt forward, shifting to his true form.

"It's a shame, really." said Schwarzschild, raising his free hand palm-upwards and shaking his head slowly in an exaggerated motion his eyes closed. "I thought that one day you'd grow out of using Dungeon World's gambling cards and focus on a real strategy." He opened his eyes and pointed a gloved finger towards Sphinxy. "Instead you just took those bad habits with you to Danger World."

"Hey! Don't talk about Dave like that!" growled Sphinxy, raising a claw threateningly.

"Oh, and your buddy is a size 2 monster, so calling him will trigger my Dryad's Thunder Mine." Another small Yamigedo shot out, this time from the plant woman. It struck Dave. "Each turn, the first time you take damage, Proto Golem refills my gauge. Your turns are no exception." Two more cards flew out from his book.

"Seven gauge?" Dave laughed. "Fun fact, that's probably more than you need."

"I assure you, I'll find a use for it." said Schwarzschild.

"Sphinxy, attack the center monster!" Dave said. The Sphinx blew away Evil Dryad in a barrage of missiles.

Dave paused to think for a second.

"Feel free to destroy Proto Golem as well." said the older boy.

"...Battleborg, attack the fighter!" said Dave, realizing that the Golem had already served whatever purpose it had in racing up gauge.

"Death to all but metal!" yelled Battleborg, aiming his gun arm at Schwarzschild and firing away.

"And I'll attack you myself!" Dave said, leaping forward. He pointed his staff at Schwarzschild and the Dangerous Cradle moved to its target. The two spears shot out in a direct attack, making Schwarzschild cross his arms in front of his face.

"Not bad for one turn, right?" grinned Dave.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/1/3 - 1/7/3

"I draw." said the older boy. He looked at his hand for a few long seconds before flicking a card away and pulling another from his book. "Charge and draw."

"I call Blue Flame Master Zustein to the center position." he said, as a white-haired wizard materialized. The wizard was wearing dark-blue armor, with a cloak of the same shade lined with white fur over the top of it.

"Zustein lets me pay 5 gauge to destroy every other item and monster on the field."

"Wait, what?" said Dave, his eyes widening as five of Schwarzschild's gauge turned into blue flames orbiting Zustein. "I cast Demon Slay Barrier to protect my buddy!"

"How noble." said his opponent. "If you really do care about your buddy so much we might even let you keep him when you join us."

Sphinxy was protected by a swirling red spiral of energy as the flames shot out and destroyed both players monsters and Dave's Dangerous Cradle.

"I retire Zustein, and buddy call Death Master Lelag Monarch to the center position."

Lelag Monarch jumped forward, grinning behind his metal mask.

"When Lelag Monarch enters the field, he revives two of his flunkies. To be precise, two size 0 Dungeon Enemies." said Schwarzschild, pushing up his glasses. "This time, he calls two Dragon Tooth Warriors, one on each side."

"Rise from your grave!" said Lelag in an oddly high-pitched voice, raising his staff into the air as it emitted purple magical energy.

A pair of red-armored skeletons appeared, flanking the demon lord.

"What's with you and skeletons anyway? Fun fact, I know you were buddies with Fate Skeleton before you got this guy."

"They are simply Dungeon World's most reliable minions." said Schwarzschild. "I used Fate Skeleton until he was no longer useful. There's nothing more to it." He gave a short chuckle. "Perhaps it's why I get along so well with my new buddy."

"I pay one gauge and one life to equip Fiendish Blade Urahonekui." A wicked-looking sword with a jagged blade appeared in his free hand, and he gave it an experimental swing. "This allows me to attack over the monster in my center."

"Now, I link-attack with a Dragon Tooth Warrior against your buddy." he said. He leapt up and twirled through the air on his buddy skill, through multiple full rotations, eventually slicing at Sphinxy's head while his Dragon Tooth Warrior hacked away at the Armorknight's body.

"Don't give up, Dave!" said Sphinxy before shattering.

"Lelag Monarch, attack the fighter."

"Nemesis crown!" screeched his buddy, pointing his staff at Dave and blasting him with a barrage of purple energy blasts.

"You're wasting time with your, shall we say, charity cases? Your analyst is practically non-verbal. Your deckbuilder, so forgetful." He smirked. "And the less said about your newest finding, the better."

"They're my friends." Dave said.

"Be that as it may." said his opponent. "Dragon Tooth Warrior, attack the fighter." The remaining skeleton lunged at Dave.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
4/1/2 - 1/0/1

"What about _your_ friends?" asked Dave. "Would you abandon them?"

"My friends? Do you mean the Warlords?" said Schwarzschild. He chuckled. "If leaving them behind would make me more powerful, I would do it in a heartbeat."

"I follow the strong." said the older boy. "Natasha said she could lead us to greatness, and for the moment I believe her."

"Wait, do you know what she's up to?" asked Dave.

"Not at all. She's not exactly talkative." said Schwarzschild. "But I can hazard a guess."

He spread his arms to the sides, his black book still held in his right hand. "For now, Karras Academy's structure is based on the principles of teamwork. This is why we have so many team tournaments, unlike many other schools that place higher value on personal rankings." He gestured vaguely with his left hand. "Buddy National have their 'digit' ranking system with rewards for their top nine, Aibo have their ABC cup and an easy route into the WBC championship."

"But Natasha? I have a feeling she intends to make Karras function more like Japan's Sengoku Academy."

"Sengoku Academy?" asked Dave. He had never heard of it.

"Sengoku is a secretive academy in the Chohakone mountains of Japan." Schwarzschild explained, pushing up his glasses with his free hand. "It was founded on the principle that winning is absolutely everything - all disputes must be solved through buddyfights."

He smirked, and continued. "You don't even get food if you can't win. A violent and anarchic school that encourages survival of the fittest, where even the teachers are afraid to intervene against the strongest students."

"In such a place?" He clenched a fist, raising it as if in triumph. "The Warlords would be kings."

Dave's eyes widened. "That's... you think she's trying to take over the school to do that?"

Schwarzschild chuckled. "It's certainly a possibility with her. 'Violence for violence is the rule of beasts', as she's so fond of saying. What do you think that means? Wouldn't you rather be on the winning side? After all, Sengoku has its four Demon Generals - there's no need for us to go full-on Team Trash with recruiting, but a fourth Warlord could secure our position."

Dave shook his head. "That's horrifying. Schwarzschild, what the hell is wrong with you?"

The older boy glared at him for a moment, then his expression became carefully neutral. "I see. I thought more of you, David."

"I draw." said Dave, now even less enthusiastic about this fight. "Charge and draw."

"I equip Boulder Piercing Spear. Final phase!" he said, twirling his spear in one hand while casting an impact. "Drill Bunker! My spear has penetrate, 7000 power and 4 critical!"

"I'll attack Lelag Monarch!" he said, pointing his spear at the demon lord. "His lifelink alone should do the trick!"

"Do you recall how our last fight ended?" asked Schwarzschild. "You overextended yourself, and were stopped in your tracks by my Divine Protection of Shalsana."

The Warlord chuckled. "This doesn't even call for divine intervention."

"Dungeon World spells can't save you - that's not a Hundred Demons card!" said Dave, leaping forward to attack.

"Cast - Scorn Of Gremlin." said the older boy, striking a pose where he was arching his back, with one hand on his glasses and the other holding out the spell card. His spell nullified the attack with another grinning gremlin.

"Urk!" said Dave, being launched backwards. He landed on his own side of the field. "...I end my turn."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
4/0/1 - 1/0/0

"So close. And yet so, so far. "Schwarzschild smirked. "Draw. Charge and draw."

"Dragon Tooth Warrior, attack the fighter." A skeleton slashed at Dave.

"Lelag Monarch, attack."

The demon lord snickered, raising his staff again. "Nemesis crown!" he said, blasting Dave with his purple magic one last time. The Danger World flag shattered, and Dave fell to his knees.

He snapped the gloved fingers of one hand, pushing up his glasses with the other.

"It really is unfortunate, though." he said, switching on his buddy skill and beginning to ascend.

[Winner: Michael Schwarzschild]

"Let me know if you change your mind."

 

* * *

 

One hour later.

Michael walked into his team's private lounge. Being the reigning champions had its perks, and having keys to this place was one of them. This late at night Tess had returned to the dorms, but the lounge wasn't empty. Natasha was sitting on an armchair, her Danger World coat tossed haphazardly over the back of it. She was lifting a large weight in her left hand, looking at the TV screen mounted on the wall. It was footage of Timo's match against Robbie Thompson, and with her free hand she reached for the remote to pause it on a frame where her two teammates were visible in the back of the crowd. She turned her head to face Michael, wordlessly raising an eyebrow.

"We didn't feel this deserved your attention." he said. "Tess and myself can handle them by..."

"The tournament." she interrupted. "I want to fight him."

She glared at the boy. "Don't interfere."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little Frankensteiner  
> Size 1 Monster / Horror World / Slasher / 2000 Power / 1 Criticals / 2000 Defense  
> "Slaughter is the best medicine!"  
> [Call Cost][Pay 1 gauge]  
> When this card enters the field you may call a monster from the soul of a card on your field by paying its call cost. If you have an originally size 3 Horror World monster on your field, reduce the size of this card by 1.
> 
> Grisly Mannequin  
> Spell Monster - Size 3 / Horror World / Slasher - Undead - Construct / 5000 Power / 2 Criticals / 5000 Defense  
> [Cast Cost][Pay 1 Gauge]  
> [Set]. This card can be your buddy!! This card can't get soulguard. You can call this [Set] spell as a monster. Reduce the size of this monster by 1 for each card in its soul.
> 
> Spirit Transfusion  
> Spell / Horror World / Magic Power  
> "Blood transfusion? That's too easy! Let's do something FUN!"  
> Use one of the following abilities.  
> * Move all cards from the soul of a target monster to the soul of another target monster controlled by the same player.  
> * Move all cards from the soul of a non-monster card to the soul of another target non-monster card controlled by the same player.


	8. Good Knight, Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Timo gets a buddy monster - a Skull Warrior from Katana World. He takes the chance to try his new deck out against Emily's older brother, the leader of Team Shining Knights. But what is the junior buddy cop up to by destroying the cards in his own deck?

I was spending my lunch break reading one of the papers I had borrowed from Emily - an examination of the legends from the various other worlds about worlds that had supposedly existed pre-Yamigedo and an evaluation of what ones were likely to actually have existed (and, therefore, would have just popped back into reality).

Some of them had evidence backing up their existence - there were living members of the 72 Pillars who had visited Forest World, for example, so attempting to open a portal there would be a sensible idea. Some sounded completely fake - what the hell was Tiny Train World?

Eva was silently reading another book beside me. Emily had sent me a text earlier saying she was sure she had made a breakthrough and that she had come up with an idea that might let her cast a simple Holy Moly spell. I replied wishing her luck. Dave hadn't shown up this morning - maybe he was off sick.

"Have you heard anything from Dave today?" I asked.

"No." said Eva, turning a page.

"Eh, it's just that I've got booster packs he gave me a couple of days ago." I said. "I was going to ask if he wanted to finish opening them together."

Eva put a bookmark in her book and closed it. "Open them." she said, looking at me with her one uncovered eye. "He won't mind."

I guess Eva does know Dave better than me. They've known each other since at least before the last tournament, though I've no idea if they were friends before then. "Well, if you say so." I said, pulling out a pack to open it.

I looked through the cards. "Some good spells in here." I said, fanning them out for Eva to see. "Hey, an Azure Cascade Formation - could come in handy for my deck."

She nodded, silently appraising the cards. Her world hadn't yet shown up in boosters, but as an analyst she doubtlessly knew all the cards that were in this set.

"Well, next pack." I said, opening it. As I pulled the cards out the front one started glowing. "Wait, what?" A buddy rare?

A monster appeared from the card - a somewhat androgynous humanoid figure in a white karate gi-like outfit, with blonde hair in a ponytail. Most of her face (all but the mouth) was obscured behind a rabbit mask. Her red belt was decorated with animal skulls, along with a tuft resembling a rabbit's tail at the back. Her arms had gray-and-red bracers, and her leg armor in the same color scheme resembled three-pointed claws.

"Hey, yo! You're Timo, right? Mind if I call you T-dawg?" said the masked figure.

"I'd... rather you didn't?" was all I could think of to say in reply.

The rabbit-masked buddy monster grinned, and gestured to herself with a thumb. "I'm Lightning Speed Tsukiusagi, a Skull Warrior from Katana World! Nice to meet you, T-bone!"

"Tsukiusagi?"

"Moon Rabbit." said Eva. "From Japanese folklore."

"Wicked witch of the west over here is right, Doro-T!"

"Okay. Guess that explains the mask. So should we call you Tsukiusagi, or...?"

"Call me Tsuki. Or Usagi. Whatever man." the skull warrior said, shrugging. "Just don't call me Sue or U and we're cool."

"You've been watching us." said Eva.

The skull warrior shrugged. "Eh, mostly T-for-two over here." she said, jabbing a thumb in my direction. Accurately, too, considering that their mask completely covered their eyes.

"How long?" asked Eva.

"Huh?" said the rabbit-masked monster. "Since, oh, he first fought the dude with the sphinx?"

Oh, I see. She wanted to know if we had to explain the whole thing with Natasha.

"So do I have to win a game against you and then you'll be my buddy?" I asked.

"S'yeah right, TV Dinner." she said. I could almost imagine her rolling her eyes behind their mask. "If you want to be buddies with me, then we're buddies."

"Huh. Okay then." I said, honestly a little surprised this hadn't led to a battle. I turned to Eva. "Uh, I probably should have asked this first, but...?"

"Skull Warrior. Size 1. Calls self from hand to intercept direct attacks."

"Yeah, we can definitely work with that." I said. "Buddies?" I held out a hand.

"Buddies." said Tsukiusagi, shaking it with a grin. I returned a smile.

"I'm, uh, kind of not a great deckbuilder." I said. "So we're going to have to go find Emily before I can try your card."

"Science chick? Pink ponytail?" she said, making a gesture at her own hairstyle. "Kind of cute in that weird nerdy way?"

"Yes. That's her." said Eva, with a slight nod.

"Well heck yeah, let's go get her so you can see me in action!"

 

* * *

 

Emily's plan apparently involved connecting her core gadget to mains electricity. In addition to her labcoat and goggles she was wearing thick rubber gloves so she could safely hold the wand. A small stuffed bear (well, a panda) was on the table in front of her, on top of an X marked in duct tape - the middle one out of three identical markings. A complicated magic circle was drawn on the floor around the table, in chalk.

"It's meant to have a monster for the target, but if I'm right this is close enough." she explained.

"Wouldn't your buddy work for it? It's just a movement spell." I said. Tsukiusagi had returned to their card. We had agreed it wouldn't be right to distract Emily until after her experiment.

She laughed. "Honestly? I'm worried it'd set Gorgas on fire." She gestured to the mess of cables connecting her wand to the socket. ""I'm almost certain I've got the incantation figured out, and Gorgas gave me the thumbs up on it being safe to test... more or less." She cleared her throat. "Earth humans don't have inherent magic so I had to mess around with magical grammar, adjust the syntax a little to compensate for it, iterate through some new magic circle designs... and the chant is still dozens of times longer than anything you'd hear a Wizard monster chant."

"Not to mention that even if it works I have no idea where I'd start with doing wordless magic. It'd be a lot easier if I could get a Dark Core but, well, we all saw how _that_ turned out." she continued. "Well, you'd better get back." she said, adjusting her goggles. Eva nodded, and wandered along to a chair off at the side of the room. I followed her.

Emily pointed her core gadget wand at the stuffed toy, and began waving her wand around in the air. At first I assumed the movements were random, but she seemed to be focusing intently on making them form some complex pattern. She spoke strange words for a solid minute. I didn't recognize the language or the words, except for the last two. "Holy MOLY!" she finished with, jabbing the wand forward in a final flourish.

The lights flickered several times, and went out. We were left in pitch darkness.

"Uh..." I heard Emily say from somewhere across the room. "That's not supposed to happen."

I laughed. "I kind of figured as much."

The darkness was illuminated by a soft blue light - Eva had switched on her hitodama buddy skill so she could see, though the glow illuminating her was kind of eerie. She brought out her lantern core gadget for a little more light.

"Thanks Eva." I said. "Emily, are you alright?"

"Well, nothing's on fire." she said. Although since I could barely see her in Eva's blue glow that much was already evident. "Not much we can do other than wait for someone to fix the lights."

The lights flickered back on after a few moments, and shortly afterwards the giant owl I had seen around the academy a few times flounced in on his long stilt-like legs.

"Who." said the crowned owl, gesturing with a wing. "...did this?"

"Professor Stolas!" said Emily, eyes wide. "I can explain! I was trying to cast a spell the other day, and I thought that I had the words right and the gestures right, and maybe I just didn't have enough magical power, so I thought 'hey maybe electricity could work', and..."

Stolas... one of the 72 Pillars? I didn't realize he was a professor. I guess it kind of made sense - a lot of those demons were known as bringers of knowledge.

"Young miss, did you have permission for this experiment?" said Stolas, pointing an accusatory wing at Emily.

She frantically started digging through her pockets. "Eh, I know I had it here somewhere..." She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "Here we are!" she said, proudly presenting it to the owl-demon.

"Who." he started. "Authorized this? Oh, I see. Yes." he said, nodding his oversized crowned head. "You were meant to have a teacher supervising, you know?"

Emily rubbed the back of her head apologetically. "Sorry! It kind of slipped my mind."

"Well, try not to let it happen again." said Stolas disapprovingly, handing the paper back. "As much as I encourage the pursuit of magical knowledge I can't let my department black out power for the whole academy more than a few times a month. People notice that." He strutted off on his strangely oversized legs.

Eva and myself rejoined Emily. I noticed something about the experimental setup.

"The panda... it was on the middle X before, right?" I asked.

Emily squealed in delight. She bounced up and down on the spot, clapping. "It worked! I did magic! Actual real magic!"

"You also apparently put out the power for the whole school." I pointed out. "But congratulations!"

"Congratulations." echoed Eva.

"Well obviously there are efficiency issues, and I'm not really doing it by my own power, but that means my theory is definitely in the right ballpark!" she said, adjusting her goggles.

"That's really great, Emily!" I said, smiling. "Although that's not actually the reason we came here."

"Oh?" she said.

Tsukiusagi emerged from their card and gave a salute, tapping two fingers against her mask. "Yo."

Emily squealed again.

 

* * *

 

Emily had decided to leave the lab for now, taking Eva and myself with her. "I only leave full decks with Gorgas back in Magic World." she said. "The rest of my loose cards are back in my dorm room. Oh, and remind me later that you need a core gadget." she noted as we walked into one of the dorm buildings.

That's right, I'd have a core gadget and buddy skill now. Or soon, at least. Tsukiusagi was walking with us, having decided to shrink down to the same apparent age and height as the three humans in our group. Emily had pointed me towards Stolas to ask for the rest of the day off to sort out my new buddy, and the demon prince had agreed to pass on the message to the Academy's administration.

"Alright, here we are." Emily said, stopping at a door. "Sorry about the mess, I don't get a lot of visitors." she said as she swiped her student ID to open the door.

Mess was an understatement - there were boxes filled with cards scattered over most of the surfaces in the room, and papers with complex magical formulae and diagrams on almost all the rest. Even her bed had a deck's worth of cards laid out on it - Legend World cards, judging by the gold border. There were half-finished boxes of various snacks piled up on the nightstand - Dave had mentioned she forgot to eat meals sometimes when she was caught up in her work, so I guess she binged on junkfood when she got hungry. A closed laptop was just barely visible underneath a pile of pocky boxes.

Also on the nightstand was a fairly recent framed photo of Emily's family. She was standing alongside an older boy with a handsome face and dark purple hair who somewhat resembled her (her brother) and her mothers - one with the same pink hair as Emily, the other blonde. Also in the picture with Emily's family were their buddy monsters - Gorgas the Dragowizard, a winged woman in gold armor, a blue-haired wizard in an outfit that resembled a labcoat and a strange creature that looked like a wooden horse painted with elaborate patterns in multiple colors. Everyone in the photo was grinning happily (except the horse, with no facial expression painted on).

Emily blushed a little, and rubbed the back of her head with a hand. "Um, this is even more of a mess than I thought, actually."

"It's fine." said Eva. She looked around. "I've never been here before." she added quietly.

"We usually go to Dave's house if we're all meeting up outside school." explained Emily. "More room, plus his dad's buddy keeps the place tidy by hoarding anything valuable and eating the rest."

I briefly had the mental image of Meteor Rain, the imposing Dungeon Master, eating garbage off the floor. Maybe he just burns some of it?

"Now let me think..." said Emily, finally remembering to switch her goggles for glasses. "Tsukiusagi's a size 1 monster, so to use that attack-redirection effect safely you can't have three size worth of monsters on the field." she mused, digging through some of the boxes to pull out individual cards. "Momochitanba's a size 3 by himself, so he's right out... But then again, you need the center clear for her anyway... More emphasis on Secret Sword Starlight... that leaves a weakness to size 3 soulguard monsters, though... maybe Half-Kill? But that eats into space for Art Of Body Replacement..."

I leaned in to Eva, and whispered "Should we, uh, be helping her with this?"

"No." was her equally quiet response, accompanied by a small side-to-side movement of her head. "This is her talent."

"Hmm." I said, not really expecting much more conversation from Eva, who was silently watching Emily search for cards. "So, Tsukiusagi. You've been watching us get ready for the tournament for the last couple of weeks?"

She grinned, leaning against the doorframe. "S'yeah. Not much better to do in Katana World some days. Only Ninjas have television back home." She began twirling a kunai knife on one finger. "And you can only cut down ninjas avenging the honor of their clans in moonlit rooftop _iaijutsu_ duels so many times in a week before you feel like doing something else for a while." she said.

"Wait, 'cut down'?" I asked. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a Skull Warrior from a world named after a type of sword would get in a lot of fights. But actually killing other buddy monsters...?

She shrugged. "Eh, to be fair they're nanomachine ninjas, so if you cut one in half they just become two little ninjas for a while. Kind of cute, really. And if they kill skull warriors, hey, we're already dead. So we just get back up in an hour or two anyway." she said with a grin.

"You want to keep the Secret Swords, right?" said Emily over her shoulder, not even looking up from the pile of cards she was sorting through.

"I guess?" I said. "They're working pretty well for me."

She nodded, and put the pile back down, having taken only a couple of cards from it. "The deck I built for Eva last time dipped into both Skull Warriors and the Secret Sword archetype. It even had Blue Secret Katana Zetsu to fish out the set spells and impacts for a deck that tried to play long-term." She set the cards she was holding aside, and dug into another box. "In retrospect it just didn't have the consistent draw power it needed - it turns out a few of Katana World's draw spells were sealed away with the Hundred Demons, so we do have that now..."

"Oh, like the Hundred Demons Tome Of Judgement." I said, remembering the Dragonic Grimoire-clone that had saved me a couple of times.

"Exactly! And Demonic Way Akishoki if we go the full Hundred Demons route, not to mention the potential card advantage from Skull Festival..." She held a card up in each hand, eyes moving back and forth between them as she weighed up the pros and cons of each. She put one back in the box, and picked up three more copies of the one she had kept in her hand.

There was a knock at the door. Emily glanced aside from her cards briefly. "Come in!" she said.

The door swung open. Emily's brother Dennis, the boy from the picture, walked in. He was a couple of years older than Emily (I think Emily had mentioned he was in the year below Nat?), and a lot taller. His hair was short and light-purple, and unlike Emily he didn't have glasses on over his blue eyes. He was wearing the orange and green outfit of a buddy police officer.

"You must be Timo Zaitsev." he said, extending a hand. I shook it. "I'm Dennis Primrose, from the buddy police youth. I've heard about you from my sister, of course. I was actually sent to find you because, well, you've got a buddy now."

Tsukiusagi leaned in. "Yo! I'm T-bone's new buddy!" she said.

"You've already used that one." I noted.

"Hey, you try coming up with new nicknames on the spot, see how easy it is, Boston T-Party."

I laughed. "Sorry, she's just been at it all day." I said to Dennis.

He smiled. "I suppose we all connect to our buddies in different ways. It's why I've got plenty of sugar cubes in my dorm room." He chuckled, and continued. "Whenever a student at Karras gets a new buddy, they send us to give them a core deck case, make sure there are no problems with the buddy contract, and just generally handle the usual bureaucratic red tape."

He walked further into the room, careful to step around an open box filled with assorted Magic World cards. "Emily, would you like some help cleaning this room?"

She waved him away with a hand. "It's fine, you know how it is when I'm deckbuilding. I'll clean up when I've finished your tournament deck..." she looked thoughtful for a moment. "But I've got to build Timo's deck first."

He nodded. "Alright, as long as you get around to cleaning up eventually." he said. "Don't worry about my deck, there's still a while before the tournament and the one Cassie helped me build works well enough for now."

He turned around, finally noticing the other girl he had walked past. "Eva." he said with a nod. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there before."

She raised a hand in greeting. I guess they had met before. He continued past her to me.

"Here, you'll need this." he said, handing me a core deck case.

"Thanks." I said, slotting my deck into it. I waved it about briefly, and it transformed into a sheathed katana.

"A sword?" I said, inspecting the core gadget in my hand with surprise. "I don't even use weapons in my deck, so it's pretty weird that I've got a weapon core gadget."

"A buddyfighter's default core gadget reflects their inner hopes or desires." said Emily, clasping her hands together. She pulled out her core deck case, turning it into a wand and giving it a swish. "For example, mine is a wand because I want to learn all about magic. I think Eva's is a lantern because she wants to guide her friends to victory."

Eva gave a small nod, but didn't say anything.

"What about Dave's question mark staff?"

She smiled. "Maybe he wants to be The Riddler."

I laughed. "Well, at least a sword against a shield makes some kind of sense." I said, thinking of Nat's massive shield core gadget. What did hers even represent?

"My brother has a shield too, but it's a buckler on his arm." she noted. Dennis nodded and raised his left arm, showing off his core gadget. "With his buddy skill on it looks like... have you ever heard of an old manga called Yu-Gi-Oh? It's kind of like a duel disk from that."

"Swords are pretty common for new Katana World users." said Dennis. "Aside from the obvious world name relation and the direct connotations of being a weapon they have other symbolic meanings."

"Forceful action. Firm decisions. Bold resolve." said Eva.

"Otherwise it's a straightforward enough core gadget." said Dennis. "You can change it to something else if you really feel the need to, but most new buddyfighters I meet end up keeping the core gadgets they started with."

He looked at his phone, and sighed. "I can't stay much longer, Emily. I was stopping here on the way to other official business." he said. "I also have to go investigate the labs - someone blew out the power earlier and we got a report..."

Emily blushed a little, flailing her hands in front of her face. "No need to look into that, it's all been fixed!"

"Emily." he said. He then shook his head, chuckling quietly. "No, I'm not even going to ask."

"Here I was thinking we'd finally got a case to crack. Looks like it's your wee sister again." said a voice from the doorway with a slight irish accent. A boy was standing in the doorway, one hand on his wide-brimmed hat. He had shoulder-length red hair, and had freckles. He was wearing a brown poncho and a holster for his core gadget - a gun. If he turned out not to be using the cowboy line of Dragon Knights I'd be surprised.

Leaning against the doorframe behind the boy was a blonde woman, a green hat with a sheriff's star badge pinned to it pulled low over her eyes. She looked too old to be an academy student. His buddy?

"Pat! Jane! I was wondering where you two got off to." said Dennis.

"It's starting to get crowded here." said Eva.

"Just watching our backs, figured you could handle a dropoff yourself. Looks like everything's fine." said the boy. He looked at me. "Patrick O'Shea, prefect and junior buddy police officer." he said, doffing his hat slightly. "Round here, I make sure everyone follows the rules."

"Except the dress code." said the woman. He gave her a sidelong look and a slight smile in response.

"Hi. Um, Timo Zaitsev." I said.

"Well, while we're here anyway, could Miss Friday's buddy step outside?"

A light emerged from Eva's deck, and floated off into the hallway. Kardor appeared from it. "Ossifer." he said, saluting with his hook.

"Kardor, can you please stop roaming the academy grounds at night when you're full-size?" said Pat. "We get a lot of reports about men in hockey masks with hook hands spooking out students who look out their dorm windows."

Jane was smiling silently at this exchange.

Kardor laughed loudly, clutching his belly. "I completely forgot how that must look around here."

"He accompanies me when I go for walks." said Eva.

Pat shrugged. "Just remember to shrink down in future."

A puff of smoke obscured Kardor for a few seconds. When it cleared, he was maybe three feet tall, though still wearing his hockey mask and with his hook hand prominently visible. "That better?"

Tsukiusagi gave a snort of laughter. "'S a good look, Mr Friday the Thirteenth!"

"That should be fine." said Dennis. "You understand, we're fine with it but not everyone's comfortable with Horror World yet. If people don't know you they probably think you look like some crazy horror movie serial killer."

Eva looked silently between Dennis and her buddy.

"Patrick's one of my brother's teammates, and they're both studying to become buddy police officers after they graduate." said Emily.

"The Shining Knights have a proud history, the academy's finest legacy team. Both of my parents have won tournaments as part of the team." said Dennis, his eyes practically glowing with pride. I saw Eva walking out into the hallway to say something to the (now-tiny) slasher, who waved his hook around as he said something quietly in reply.

"Legacy Team?" I asked. I was sure I had heard the term being used before.

"Most teams are formed by classmates, or people in the same year." explained Emily. "So all the members graduate at the same time, meaning the team doesn't last longer than the time those players were in the academy."

"But a 'Legacy Team' recruits members to carry on the name and, well, _legacy_ of the original team." said Dennis. "The Shining Knights have been around for about twenty years despite the original members all having left long ago."

"Oh. Original members like your moms?" I asked.

"Well, they weren't both founding members, but yes." said Emily, smiling. "So the Shining Knights recruit at least one new member each year, meaning they've existed continuously since they began."

"Our team has boasted the likes of Sir James Knightman himself, during his younger years." added Dennis. "The only legacy team that's been around nearly as long as us is The Warlords, though they have very different rules and by-laws when it comes to recruiting new members."

"Like making someone the leader if they can beat the entire current lineup, right?" I asked, not really needing an answer.

Pat laughed. "Now why'd you need to ask that?" He shook his head. "They always did have some strange rules. But rules are rules, so I don't blame them for sticking to their guns."

"My own nomination for the Knights this year was Emily, though if I'm to understand she's firmly rooted to your team at the moment, so we don't have a new member this time around." Dennis shrugged. "It would certainly be nice for us to have a dedicated deckbuilder. Cassie isn't _bad_ at it but she has a strange habit of putting one copy of some extremely conditional card in each deck she builds, so we need to redo her work anyway."

"Team Trash is an attempt to create a new legacy team." added Emily. "But, well, you've met them..."

I didn't really need any further explanation about why Team Trash wasn't likely to be around after the Thompsons graduated.

Dennis shook his head. "I wish we could do something about their... unorthodox recruiting tactics. I don't really approve of them strong-arming new buddyfighters to join."

"As long as they're not breaking any of the academy's rules we've been told to stay out of their business." said Pat.

"You know." said Dennis, changing the subject. "Since investigating the blackout isn't a top priority now, how about we have a buddyfight after school? The deck Emily's building for you against the one I've been using recently."

"S'yeah dude, I'm up for it if Ford Model-T is."

"That one was a bit of a reach." I said.

"Yeah, kind of regretting it." said Tsukiusagi.

I turned to Dennis. "Okay, we'll do it."

 

* * *

 

Rather than the academy's main fight stage, we had ended up at the labs again. Dennis explained that Pat and himself had to pop in to check in on the lab anyway, so they just got permission from Professor Stolas while they were there. Apparently he taught their chemistry class so they knew the owl-demon well. The actual fight stage was being used by some players in the year above us called Team Hotline for their own tournament preparations.

I took up position on the opposite side of the lab from Dennis. Emily, Eva and Pat were sitting off to the side to watch our fight.

"Walking a treacherous path where each step may be your last!" I said, holding my core deck case against my belt where it turned into a sheathed katana. "Luminize - Rabbit Trail!" Not entirely sure why Emily had fixated on the rabbit mask when naming the deck, but oh well.

"Astride a steed from the land of dreams!" said Dennis, raising his left arm in front of his face to draw from his buckler core gadget. "Luminize - Good Knight!" he said, drawing out the 'oo' sound in his deck name.

"Katana World!" I said. Tsukiusagi held the flag for me.

"Legend World!" said Dennis, the fleur-de-lis flag floating behind him. The red wooden horse from the Primrose family photo stood by his side.

"I've got to admit, that's not the kind of buddy I expected you to have." I said, thinking of the valkyrie I had seen him standing nearby in the picture.

He laughed. "Only one of the Shining Knights has a knight as their buddy right now. Instead, I aim to be a knightly figure myself in deed and word, with my noble steed Dalahast to aid me in battle." He patted his wooden horse lightly on the head, and it neighed despite having no actual mouth.

"By the way, it's your move." said Dennis.

"Oh! Right! Sorry!" I said. His buddy was distractingly _weird_ but I guess monsters really did come in all shapes and sizes. "Charge and draw!"

I thought about what I knew of Legend World. It's the world that has possibly the most supported archetypes, many of which overlapped with each other. Dalahast definitely wasn't a Hero or Star, and I couldn't see a toy horse being one of the gods of Olympus or Asgard. Probably a Fairy or Wydar Sarkal?

"I pay one gauge to call Agent Ninja Linzo to the center!" I said. The blue ninja appeared. I smiled, happy to see the familiar face (well, goggles) of one of the Agent Ninjas that had been a crucial part of my playstyle these last few weeks. Even if I was running a lot more Skull Warriors than Ninjas now they had important roles in the deck's strategy.

"When I call Linzo I move a Lethal Formation from my deck to my hand!" Not much point in casting it until I knew what his deck actually did, though. Legend World could dip into powerful weapons, field-clearing set spells, incredibly strong offensive monsters and even some high-end impacts. It traded out a little of Dragon World's famed versatility and picked up some higher costs in exchange for being able to specialize in some exceptionally dangerous combo decks.

I guess the only way to find out what his deck did was to wait another turn. "Linzo, attack the fighter!" I said. The blue ninja leapt forward to slash at Dennis with his blades of light, and the junior buddycop instinctively raised his core gadget buckler in front of his face to take the attack for him.

"And I'll end my turn there." I said.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
10/2/6 | 8/2/6

"It's my turn!" said Dennis. "Draw! Charge and draw!"

"I buddy call Carved Stallion Of Dreams Dalahast to the right!" he said. His horse buddy leapt forward, fairy-like wings made of shimmering rainbow light appearing from its sides. "And when I call him, he sends the top three cards of my deck to the dropzone!" he said, as three cards shot out of his deck and shattered. Dropzone synergy - was his deck like Eva's one? By now I was almost certain Dalahast had the Fairy attribute, but that effect could fit a few decks I vaguely knew about.

"I'll call a second Dalahast to the left!" he said, another wooden horse appearing. This one was mostly painted blue. "And I'll equip the Immortal Sword, Durandal!" he said, a golden sword appearing in his right hand.

"Durandal has a very high power for a zero-cost weapon." said Emily. She didn't need to pull out her notebook, so presumably this was a card she was considering for the other Legend World deck she was in the process of tinkering with. "It's a good early-game weapon thanks to that wall-clearing statline and the Equipment Change effect. It can't be destroyed by card effects either, so watch out for that."

"Durandal has a reputation for being invulnerable." said Dennis, holding the sword out in front of himself with the blade facing sideways so I could get a better look at it. "It's called the Fabled Demon Sword of Legend World, and has been around so long that it formed a personality of its own. I heard there's a boy in Japan who has a buddy contract with it, though this one never talks to me. Maybe because it's not my buddy."

"Most of the time you can only use a monster as your buddy, for obvious reasons." said Emily, adjusting her glasses. "Durandal's the only non-monster card I know of that can be your buddy."

"There are others. Grisly Mannequin is a spell that can become a buddy." noted Eva.

"Huh?" said Emily, surprised. "Can I... can I take a look at that card?" Eva removed a copy of it from her own core deck case, and held it up for Emily. The pink-haired girl stared at it intently, her attention no longer on the match.

"Moving on, I'll clear the center with Durandal." said Dennis. "Here I come!"

He leapt forward. When he landed in front of Linzo he adopted a side-on stance with his sword-hand facing us. His buckler was held up to guard the shoulder closest to me, and he stabbed through Linzo with a quick thrust of his blade. He leapt back now that the way was clear for his monsters.

"Dalahast on my right, attack the fighter!" The carved horse leapt into the air, soaring above me on his shining wings. He unleashed a barrage of energy blasts from those wings.

"Dalahast on my left, it's your turn!" The blue stallion followed suit.

"I pay one gauge to counter buddy call to the center - Lightning Speed, Tsukiusagi!"

Tsukiusagi grinned, putting down the flag. She leapt forward to take the hit for me. "Watch and learn, pennyroyal-T!" she said, before shattering from the attack.

"It's strange to be using a shield so early, even if it's from your buddy's effect." said Dennis. "Still, I trust you know what you're doing."

He lowered Durandal to his side, and gestured towards me with an upright open palm. "That's all for my turn. Make it yours."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
9/1/5 | 9/3/4

"I draw! Charge and draw!" I said. Okay, so he had fairies and heroes in his deck. And Equipment Change? It couldn't possibly work like the bizarre Monster Mash Equipment Change toolbox deck I had faced before, but I'd have to watch out for more weapons. He also had some kind of dropzone synergy going on?

I did have that last one in my new deck, so it was time to see if that would help. "I call Snake Princess Setsuna to the left!" I said.

A girl wearing a pink kimono with red ribbons appeared. She had most of her pink hair held up in two buns by a pair of decorations that were made out of some kind of horned animal skulls. Her loose hair was shoulder length, covering one of her two red eyes. She held a pink snake with similarly red eyes in her hands. With her hair obscuring her face and the general style she dressed in I got the impression that if Eva was a Skull Warrior she'd look very much like this snake girl. I wondered briefly if Eva had ever had a Setsuna in her deck.

Then again, considering Emily built this deck, it occured to me that maybe she had an ulterior motive in putting four copies of a card that looked like Eva into a deck. I laughed quietly at that thought, and shook my head a little.

"When Setsuna enters the field, I can pay one gauge to call a size 1 or less Skull Warrior from my drop zone. Come on back to the center, Tsukiusagi!"

My rabbit-masked buddy appeared in the center, grinning at Dennis. "What's up, doc?"

"Setsuna, attack Dalahast!" I said, pointing to the blue one.

"Serpent time." said Setsuna, floating forward gracefully, extending the arm holding her snake towards the blue horse. Her snake lunged at the Dalahast, which shattered with a whinny of despair.

"Now, Tsukiusagi!" I said to my buddy. "Attack the fighter!"

"Flying Thorns Of Moonlight Mist!" yelled Tsukiusagi, somersaulting forwards through the air and flinging a handful of kunai from each hand at Dennis, who raised his left arm to shield himself again.

"Final phase - I cast Clear Serenity!" I said, watching my gauge shoot up to four. "And then I set Lethal Formation!" I made my choice of Secret Sword cards from my deck.

"And now I end my turn." Setsuna shattered - most of the Skull Warriors destroyed themselves at the end of my turn. Tsukiusagi stuck around, though her own hilariously low combat stats meant she wasn't likely to still be standing when Dennis finished his own turn.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
9/4/3 | 7/3/4

"It's my turn!" said Dennis. "Draw! Charge and draw!"

"I cast my set spell, Hero's Base, Castle Camelot!" he said. The card became a castle behind him, golden walls and spires stretching towards the ceiling. "The first time I call or equip a Hero each turn I put a card from my deck into the dropzone, then the next card into my gauge. And if it's ever destroyed, I get a Hero item or the Holy Grail back to my hand."

"Now, I call Fairy Knight Daione Shee to the left!" he said, a card flying from his deck to his gauge and one dissolving in front of him. Daione Shee turned out to be a pair of human-sized fairies with pointed ears wearing gold-trimmed armor. One had short blue hair and a golden sword, the other slightly longer pink hair and a purple sword.

"We guard the gates to the land of the Fair Folk!" said the pink-haired one. A card from Dennis' deck emerged and dissolved, then his gauge increased.

"Next, I'll attack your buddy!" he said, leaping forward to assume his swordfighting stance again. He stabbed at Tsukiusagi.

"Stay golden, pony boy!" yelled Tsukiusagi as she was destroyed by Dennis' attack.

"Daione Shee, attack the fighter!"

"I pay one gauge to call another Tsukiusagi from my hand, and she'll take the attack!"

My buddy reappeared in the way of the fairy knights. "Guess who's back!" she said. The knights glanced at each other, and swiftly dispatched her with two simultaneous strikes from opposite sides.

"Dalahast, attack the fighter!" The red stallion bombarded me with a rainbow of lasers again.

"I pay a gauge to cast Demon Way Arakuyou!" I said. "When two of my Skull Warriors are destroyed in the same turn I can draw three cards!"

"It was the same Skull Warrior, but looks like that counts." said Pat.

"It's mostly a card that you use on your own turn, when Skull Warriors die from their effects." said Emily. "But Tsukiusagi's effect lets her show up when an opponent attacks, letting her set it off after a center monster has been destroyed."

"So you put that into the deck because of his buddy." said Pat. "He needs all the draw power he can get if his monsters don't stay on the field."

Dennis nodded. "Make it yours."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
7/2/4 | 7/5/3

"I draw! Charge and draw!" I said without hesitation. Several of my Skull Warriors and Secret Swords were just as useful in the dropzone as they'd be in my hand. Careful gauge manipulation could put them where they needed to be.

"I'll call another Setsuna to my left, and pay a gauge to revive a Godly-Speed Natsubame to my right!" I said.

The snake princess returned, and brought with her a figure in tattered robes.

He had the head and beak of a bird, with some brown feathers sprouting from his shoulders and from under the back of his belt. His limbs were skeletal, and he was carrying a dark-red box tied to the end of a wooden pole with string of a lighter red.

"Guhehe... my Sandy Sprint will help you take the lead!" said the birdman. He pointed one of his skeletal claws at me, and a card flew out from my deck to my hand.

"I can draw a card when Natsubame enters the field, but only when he's called from the dropzone, and only when I already control a Skull Warrior!"

"That's a lot of hoops to jump through to draw one card." commented Pat.

"Skull Warrior decks usually have set spells to revive their fallen monsters." said Emily. "There wasn't really room for those in this build, but the draw power is still useful to have."

Eva nodded. "Card advantage is vital for Skull Warriors."

"Looks like." said Pat. "Seems he put that card into his gauge earlier. Good way to make sure it gets buried at some point."

"I also call to the center Agent Ninja Mamiya!" I said.

The orange ninja appeared, and turned briefly to nod at me.

"He puts a card from my hand or drop zone into my Lethal Formation." I picked one from the drop zone.

"Next, I'll cast Clear Serenity." I said, refilling my gauge. One of the impacts I had set up could be useful here, and at worst it might make him hesitate to call my bluff.

"Setsuna, attack the Fairy Knights!" I said.

"Twin snakes kill each other." said Setsuna, as her snake leapt past the guard of each fairy knight in turn and bit them, causing them to shatter.

"Natsubame, attack the fighter!" I said. The birdman leapt forwards, but he never reached Dennis.

"I cast my counter-impact - King's Wave, Caliburn Grief!" He raised Durandal and swung it horizontally in front of himself. A wave of energy shot out across the field. "For two gauge I destroy every monster and set spell on the field!" All three of my monsters shattered, along with his remaining Dalahast and his Camelot.

"He can only use Caliburn Grief when he has four different Hero cards in his drop zone, but then he can use it whenever he wants." said Pat.

Eva nodded. "A counter impact that can be used to destroy everyone. It can't be nullified by cards that nullify spells."

"He doesn't need as many defensive spells with that, but it does limit his deck construction if he's relying on Hero cards when his buddy isn't one." said Emily. "It's an unconventional build, but I could definitely see it working for his playstyle. So it was built by the other member of your team?"

"You've not met Cassie yet." said Pat. "She's a decent deckbuilder, pretty good analyst. Well, except when that magic 8-ball buddy of hers tells her not to be." He gave a short 'heh' of laughter after that, but didn't explain.

"When Castle Camelot goes to the dropzone I can add a Hero item or a Holy Grail from my dropzone to my hand." said Dennis, a card appearing in his hand.

"Alright, you got me with that one." I said. I wasn't expecting an impact, let alone a counter-impact.

"I was just getting used to my monsters all being destroyed at the _end_ of my turn. But, uh, here we are. My move ends." I said.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
7/5/3 | 7/3/3

"It's my turn!" said Dennis again. "Draw! Charge and draw!"

"I call Dalahast to the left!" he said. Three more cards went to his dropzone. He tapped his core gadget buckler, making his dropzone briefly appear in front of him. He nodded, and tapped it again, making the displayed cards dissolve.

"When I have ten or more Hero cards in my drop zone, I can equip a certain weapon." he said. "And I have just that - exactly ten Heroes!"

He held up a card, which dissolved. "I discard the Holy Grail I added to my hand from Camelot, and I equip Sword Of The King Excalibur!"

"Looks like it's about time to call it for your friend." said Pat. "Legend World's weapons don't come much bigger than Excalibur - when he gets this on the field my deck can't do much to slow it down."

Emily shook her head. "It may be a powerful weapon, but its main effect doesn't work against Katana World. It can stop Shield spells, but Katana World just doesn't have anything named that."

"Double attack for 3 critical each time is still a real threat." replied Pat.

"Durandal returns to my hand thanks to Excalibur's Equipment Change effect." he said.

He leapt forward into his combat stance again, this time, aiming directly for me. "I'll attack directly with the first of Excalibur's attacks!" He lunged forwards to strike.

"Counter-call, Tsukiusagi!" I said, paying a gauge to bring out my buddy from my hand.

"Time to tank and shank!" said Tsukiusagi, before being destroyed by Dennis' attack.

Dennis found himself floating in space opposite me.

"Your Durandal was impossible to destroy, but Excalibur isn't." I said. "Once I realized your deck was always fighting with an open center? It became all too obvious that a sword with a single critical and no directly useful effects wasn't your endgame plan."

Dennis chuckled. "Caliburn Grief still took you by surprise, though."

I laughed as well. "Alright. I'll give you that. Anyway, Secret Sword Starlight goes off when you destroy a monster - it might as well be tailor-made for my buddy. I'm going to pay two gauge to deal two damage, and destroy Excalibur!"

"You know, I'm pretty sure Dave taught me how to use Secret Swords wrong as a joke." I said. "I've just been straight-up stabbing people when I'm meant to slash the moon or stars that appear. Good thing it still worked anyway." I said, drawing the sword from my core gadget, and cutting a nearby star in half. The pieces slid neatly apart.

We returned to the real world.

"I've still got my loyal buddy. Dalahast, attack the fighter!" he said. His fairy-horse obliged with a hail of magical blasts.

"Now, make it yours." he said.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/2/3 | 5/4/2

"Draw! Charge and draw!" I said. "I call Undying Benishojo to the left!"

An orangutan-like spirit wearing red robes appeared. He had long and bushy red hair. He let out a loud laugh.

"And I'll call Natsubame to the center!"

"Now, Natsubame - attack the fighter!" The avian Skull Warrior swiped at Dennis.

"Cast - Holy Grail!"

We were in space again. Dennis shook his head, and smiled.

"Secret Sword, Star Crusher."

"So you put your spell-nullifying counter impact in your Lethal Formation first." said Dennis. "When you didn't know what my strategy was leading up to you decided to cut out the middleman and make it impossible for me to defend properly." he mused.

"I'd have stopped Camelot but I felt like I needed Arakuyou's draw power more." I admitted.

"Well, good game." he said. "With you and the rest of her team behind her, I have a feeling my sister's going to do well this time around. Maybe we'll face each other again in the tournament."

I slashed through a star, ending the game as Natsubame's uninterrupted attack (and Star Crusher's extra damage) knocked Dennis down to 0 lifepoints.

"[Winner: Timo Zaitsev]"

 

* * *

 

Dennis and Pat said their goodbyes and left for home. Dalahast popped out of Dennis' deck to neigh at me, then trotted away with his buddy.

"That deck worked like a charm." I said to Emily. "Thanks for building it so fast."

"Oh, it's nothing." she said. "You figured out to run a deck with a whole new buddy pretty fast."

Tsukiusagi grinned, leaning on Emily's shoulder with one arm and gesticulating wildly with the other. "You saw how cool I was, TZ? We're gonna make a great team!"

"'TZ', huh." I said. "That's the least weird thing you've called me."

"S'yeah? Maybe I'll stick with it for a while, TZ." she said.

Eva pulled her hair aside to look at me. "Emily's brother isn't an easy opponent to defeat." she said. "His team took second place last time. You did well."

"Thanks, guys." I said, smiling. "I can hardly wait to tell Dave about this."

"Riddle boy looks like a blast to be around." said Tsukiusagi with a shrug.

"It's getting late, so I'll see you guys tomorrow." I said, waving to Emily and Eva. We went our separate ways - both of them stayed at the dorms but Eva apparently had business with the school newspaper. I should probably ask her what she actually wrote for them - I had skimmed it on a few days but nothing was credited to her.

"Hey, uh, Tsukiusagi?" I said. "About your buddy skill..."

"Eh, I'll give you one eventually, TZ." said Tsukiusagi dismissively. "Kind of late in the day to be thinking about that, plus I know some buddies that didn't give out their skills for _months_."

I shrugged. "Guess we're walking, then."

 

* * *

 

"So what was with the nicknames?" I asked while we walked.

"Eh, your name is T-Mo." she said, waving one of her hands around in the pattern of the english letters (and hyphen). "I just figured any other name I said wouldn't be as weird as that."

I laughed. "Actually, that's Timo. T-I-M-O. It's short for Timofei." I shrugged. "My dad's from Russia, so he picked a name from the old country. He's the only one who calls me that, aside from Nat."

Neither of them would call me anything right now, but hey.

Tsukiusagi laughed. "Huh. Guess it makes sense I never heard anyone call you that, TZ."

 

* * *

 

"Mom's not home." I said as we entered the apartment. Her buddy was nowhere to be seen either. "I think she took Wisp with her."

"An Armorknight Wisp?" said Tsukiusagi. "Guess your folks are all up in the Danger zone, TZ!"

"Mom's not really much of a buddyfighter herself." I said. "Even dad's Polar Bear sees more buddy-calls than Wisp."

"Well, I haven't eaten anything since lunch." I said. "You want something to eat?"

"S'yeah dude!" she said with a grin.

 

* * *

 

Mom was going to be out late, so I had the kitchen to myself. Well, myself and my buddy. She wasn't much help in cooking, aside from being really quick to chop some vegetables - apparently her skill with knives didn't just extend to kunai. Between us we whipped up some curry - not quite as good what my dad or sister could make, but I was still proud of my cooking skills.

A while later we had finished off our meal while watching a TV show from Katana World - Two And A Half Ninja, starring a Ninja monster named Charlie Shinobi. She mentioned having watched it before when at some ninja’s house, and I honestly wasn’t sure if said ninja was a friend or someone she had (however temporarily) killed in a knife-fight.

"Gotta hand it to you, TZ, the food's pretty great." she said. "I kind of don't actually need to eat since I'm undead, but hey - curry's curry."

I laughed. "Yeah, thanks. You weren't too bad with the knives."

"You were cooking it in a kind of weird order, TZ. But it worked great, so can't complain."

I smiled and rolled my eyes at the sort-of backhanded compliment. "My dad would always say I 'hadn't earned the right to cook meat'. Like he wanted me and Nat to be able to beat down wildlife with our bare hands so we could cook it. He always said I was too weak to deserve most of his recipes, so he only taught me ones that were technically vegetarian." I shrugged. "I ended up having to patch together my own recipes from that and cookbooks, as well as anything Nat could sneak to me without him finding out. Which is why I cook vegetarian meals and then dump meat in them anyway - he's just never going to tell me any other family recipes."

"Sounds harsh, TZ."

"Yeah, but he was kind of right." I said. "I'm, well, kind of a nerd?"

"No really." she deadpanned.

I laughed a little. "So yeah, I got picked on a lot when I was younger because I was reading Lord Of The Rings or whatever during break, or actually doing my homework." I shrugged. "It never really got that bad. I mean, Nat was always there to stand up for me, but when we got in trouble dad would always blame me for being too easy a target. Said I should stand up for myself, that the bullying was 'building character'."

"TZ, when I was younger and did something wrong my dad would literally run me through with a katana, killing me instantly." said Tsukiusagi. "And even I think that's pretty messed up."

I laughed at that, not even sure if the Skull Warrior was serious but appreciating the solidarity anyway.

We watched more of the TV show for a while before Tsukiusagi dozed off on the sofa. I left a note on the entrance table for mom explaining that the weird masked girl was my new buddy and went off to bed myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's an absolute crime that there's currently no card for Stolas of the 72 Pillars.


	9. Tess William's Excellent Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave's back, and Sphinxy's fallen in love with a mysterious girl who gave him the world's best cupcake. But when the trail of crumbs leads back to Tess, the Dragon Knight user from the Warlords, can Timo overcome the sheer power of her Size 5 deck?

_"Fate Skeleton, attack the monster in his center position." said Michael, a hand pushing up his glasses while the other held his core gadget book._

_"Nyeh heh heh!" said his bony buddy, leaping forward to slash at the living treasure chest, which shattered. But not before it spat up two cartoon bombs, one landing by each fighter._

_"Fun fact!" said Dave, the eleven-year old boy grinning at his goofy monster's equally goofy effect. "When Big Surprise Pandora gets destroyed we play rock paper scissors, and whoever doesn't win takes one damage!"_

_The older boy raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Another gamble card? Very well."_

_"Scissors!" said Michael, as Dave threw paper. The mechanical hand from Michael's side of the field pushed through Dave's throw. The bomb on Michael's side fizzled out, while the one by Dave exploded, leaving him covered in soot. Dave's flag, Dungeon World, shattered as his remaining lifepoint ticked down to 0._

_"[Winner: Michael Schwarzschild.]"_

_The soot faded from Dave as the remaining cards on the field disappeared. He bounced over to Michael._

_"That was so cool!" said Dave. "I didn't even come close to beating you - no wonder you got into the Warlords!"_

_Michael smirked. "Of course. My deck is a perfectly constructed machine, designed to win games with ease. After all, buddyfighting is all about brains - you need careful planning both before and during matches." He closed his book, and tucked it away under his arm. "The very first thing I did when making this deck was remove unreliable cards like the Mimics from my consideration. Rock paper scissors, _really._ " he said, wagging a finger in mock disapproval._

_Dave laughed. "Fun fact? Those cards are, well, _fun!_ " He grinned. "If I got a Mimic for my buddy I'd be fine with that. I mean, if they're anywhere near as cool as Fate Skeleton." he said, holding out a fist._

_"Nyeh heh heh!" replied Schwarzschild's skeletal buddy, tapping its (bare) knuckles against Dave's. The Dungeon Enemy didn't seem able to say anything else._

_"Well. Be that as it may, you'll want to practice hard if you're going to join the Warlords by the time I'm running them."_

_Dave's eyes lit up. "You really think I could be on your team?"_

_Michael pushed his glasses up again. "It's very much possible. In a year or two, when I'm in charge of them, you could very well be working for me. Assuming you manage to bring your skills up to our level, of course." He smirked._

_"Then it's a promise! And fun fact, I never go back on my promises!"_  


 

* * *

 

I walked into the living room, having gotten dressed for school already. Tsukiusagi was eating poptarts while watching some old movie. Paul Blart Buddy Cop, the 30th or so in the infamous franchise that made enough money from people giving it as an ironic gift to just keep going. Retooling it so that Blart was a title passed down through generations of the family made it a truly timeless tale, able to astound generations of viewers with its sheer weirdness.

"Good morning." I said.

"Yo TZ, what up." she replied. "Met your mom last night, pretty cool chick. Said I could help myself to your food."

She took a bite out of her breakfast. "You didn't say your mom used to go to the academy." she said, around a mouthful of crumbs.

"It... didn't come up?" I replied. "Mom doesn't buddyfight much outside of work." There were quite a few companies that wouldn't sign any contracts without a buddyfight first, as it had become a pretty standard way of getting to know how someone thinks. Even doing office work meant contacting new vendors and clients, and being able to give them a good buddyfight was always an advantage.

I noticed a blue flame contained in a metal helmet, floating silently in the air beside Tsukiusagi as if watching the TV as well. "Oh hey Wisp, didn't notice you there." I said to my mom's buddy, who was in their smaller form. If Wisp was here then I guess mom didn't have any important buddyfights today.

"So anyway, Tsukiusagi..."

"Hey, no need to call me by my full name, TZ." she said.

"Okay, uh, Tsuki." She gave a thumbs up to that. "Hopefully Dave'll be at school today so I can introduce you."

 

* * *

 

I didn't see Dave before school or at lunch, and since I had no classes with him it meant that it was the end of the day before I saw him. I had checked my phone earlier.

"Dave's kind of down today and he's not telling me why. He's gone up to the rooftop to chill out. Can you talk to him for me?" from Emily.

"Busy with newspaper." was all Eva had put in her text. Fair enough.

He was up on the rooftop like Emily said. Tsukiusagi still hadn't given me a buddy skill yet so I had to walk. I knew he'd usually be at soccer practice at this time, so I guess he had skipped it.

"Hey Dave." I said. "What's up?"

"Not much." he said, leaning on the railing and looking out over the school.

"We didn't see you yesterday. You feeling better?"

"Eh, kind of." he replied.

He didn't _sound_ like he was better. He usually talked a lot more than this. His hair was flatter, not all messy like it usually ended up with him zooming around everywhere with his buddy skill or running around on foot.

"I've, uh, got a buddy now." I said.

Tsukiusagi popped out of her card. "Yo, Dave. _Davey._ " she said, rolling the word around in her mouth. "Can I call you DV?"

"Oh, hey." he said, raising a hand.

"I'm Tsukiusagi, and I fight by hurling myself bodily at my opponents until one of us is dead. And if it's me, hey, I get right back up." she grinned.

"Yeah, that's nice." said Dave. "It's good to meet you."

I opened my mouth to say something, but lost my train of thought as Sphinxy ran out from the stairway door, skidding to a halt in front of us. "Dave, Dave! I need some advice!" he said frantically.

Dave smiled a bit at the sight of his buddy. "Where have you been, Sphinxy?"

"Well, I was walking around the school, and someone gave me a cupcake, and..."

Dave's expression was one of absolute shock. "...Sphinxy, don't... You can't go around taking food from random people! What if it... what if it was poisoned, or..." he said, picking up the small sphinx. Was he crying?

"Dave?" said Sphinxy, puzzled.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked Dave.

"Just... it's nothing." he said.

The little armorknight pouted. "Besides, if it was poisoned I'd just turn into my real form. You can't poison a three-ton cyborg."

Sphinxy wriggled around in Dave's arms to face me. "So I met this pretty girl, and she gave me a cupcake, and it was the best cupcake ever! A chocolate swirl with little caramel stars! And I think I'm in love with her!"

"Wait, you fell in love with a girl because she gave you a cake?" I asked, wondering if there was something I was missing.

Dave laughed a little at that, wiping tears from his eyes with one hand and holding onto Sphinxy with the other. "Fun fact, Sphinxy had a crush on Enterprise's buddy last year - ah, the old leader of Team Warlords." he explained as I was about to ask who Enterprise was. "He had this cute little Thief Cat from Hero World as his buddy, always called her Pepper for some reason. Sphinxy was just obsessed with her for a while. But yeah, the little guy falls in love easily."

He patted Sphinxy's head. "So, what cute little monster have you got a crush on now? Another pink kitty-cat?"

"It's not like that this time!" Sphinxy huffed. "And anyway, she's not a monster - she's a human girl!"

"You've got a crush on one of the students here?" I asked. Monster-human relationships weren't completely unheard of, but it was very unusual for them to work out. Especially when the buddy monster wasn't humanoid.

"Yeah, so?" said Sphinxy. He stuck out his tongue at me.

"Uh, what exactly happened anyway?" I said.

"Well, I was walking around the home ec building..."

"Fun fact, he eats food from the trash there all the time. Little guy's always hungry." joked Dave.

"I was gonna see if I could sneak in and get some cakes. _From the trash_." he added, glaring at Dave.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry." sighed Dave. "I didn't mean... Look, I'll give you some chocolate later, okay?" I made a mental note to ask Sphinxy what was wrong. Something was definitely up, and the little Armorknight seemed to know what it was.

"But chocolate won't live up to that cake. It was _soooo gooood_!" said Sphinxy. "Anyway, I was in the corridor when I heard the love of my life."

"She was singing, and she had the voice of an angel..." Sphinxy said, trailing off as his eyes became giant cartoon hearts. Okay, I know he's a monster from another world, but that's just plain _weird_.

 

* * *

_  
"Don't need money, don't take fame, don't need no credit card to..." the girl sang as she cleaned up the kitchen. She stopped mid-line when she say Sphinxy. The music accompanying her continued playing, audible through the core gadget headphones around her neck. She squatted down to speak to the monster._

_"Oh, hey little dude! You must be someone's buddy. Groovy hat." She patted the top of his headdress. She then stood up to grab a baking tray that had been left aside to cool, and brought it down to Sphinxy's eye level._

_"Do you like chocolate?" she said with a grin. The cupcakes practically shone in Sphinxy's vision._

_"Like, Dennis is on some kinda diet so he doesn't want my cupcakes today, and my team never eat them. But these are the most excellent cakes I've ever made. Buddyfight, music, baking... it's all best when it's shared. So here, take one."  
_

 

* * *

 

"She had pretty golden hair and gorgeous chocolate skin and a big cute hoodie and, and, and..."

"Hang on," I said, raising a hand to interrupt the Sphinx. I looked at Dave. "Doesn't that sound like one of the Warlords?"

"Fun fact, I'm pretty sure it is." said Dave. "I've never met her, though."

"Sphinxy, was there another human there? Probably wearing a weird hat? Maybe with some kind of animal?" I asked. I knew Dragon Knights all defaulted to human appearances, and that the Warlord we were thinking of had Napoleon as a buddy. So odds are he was hanging around nearby.

"Huh? Yeah, there was a guy with a doofy hat there." said Sphinxy, waving his paws around his head. "And this tiny fat pony. You don't think..." Sphinxy gasped, his eyes wide. He put his front paws to his mouth. "Was the guy her boyfriend? Oh no!"

"What? No." I laughed. "It sounds like that's her buddy. So it probably is... uh, Tess, I think? Doesn't Emily know her?"

 

* * *

 

"Tess Williams, the Dragon World user from the Warlords." said Emily, holding out her phone. The photo on the screen was of the older blonde girl with her arm around Emily, her eyes closed and a huge grin on her face. Emily and Eva could be called cute but Tess was definitely very pretty. She'd easily be mistaken for a model or a popstar if not for the strangely oversized clothes she wore.

"Let me think... she's from France. She's in the baking club, and not at all a slouch when it comes to buddyfighting." she said.

"Just baking?" I said. "Doesn't she have headphones for her core gadget?" I said, thinking of the video we saw of one of Nat's matches. I had assumed she was in a band or something.

Emily adjusted her glasses. "Actually, she used to have a sledgehammer core gadget. But her headphones broke a while back, and she figured photon metal would be sturdier." She laughed. "She does like music and she's got a pretty good range with her voice, but she's not even in the light music club. She's said a couple of times that she wants to be a voice actor but I've no idea if she's serious."

She started flipping through some other photos.

Tess posing on the fight stage with Michael Schwarzschild, Johnny Thompson and an older boy wearing dollar-sign sunglasses and a yellow bandana (was that Enterprise?). The bandana boy was holding a trophy aloft and grinning.

Tess and Johnny laughing while Napoleon was eating a giant bowl filled with ice cream in the background. The Dragon Knight was sat beside a sign saying 'ZIGGY PIG - Eat the whole bowl and it's free!'.

Emily's eyes lighting up in delight as Tess pulled a cake out of the oven (her oversized sleeves pulled back for oven gloves).

Sphinxy's eyes were hearts. "That's her! See, isn't she perfect?"

"Fun fact, she is pretty cute." said Dave. "I didn't really expect humans to be your type, though." Sphinxy stuck out his tongue in response.

"She's two years above us." explained Emily. "She got pulled into the Warlords by Enterprise last year, though she and Johnny were mostly reserve players before he graduated."

"Huh. How do you know her anyway?" I asked.

Emily blushed a little, and raised a hand to fidget with her glasses. "Well, she makes the best cupcakes in the school, and we kind of ended up making this deal where I'd help her with deckbuilding in exchange for them?"

Dave laughed. "Fun fact, Enterprise was all about setting up ridiculous chains of deals to get the best stuff for his team. So it wouldn't surprise me at all that he'd recruit someone just to be able to have them bake stuff for a deckbuilder."

"You built decks for the Warlords?" I asked.

"Only Tess, and I'm not doing that this time." she said defensively. "Once I gave her the basic deck she ended up tweaking it herself to use some newer cards, but she's never needed a complete rebuild."

"Okay, so that's how you got introduced and you've just been hanging around with her since then. Fair enough." I said.

Emily laughed. "Honestly, I think the reason she started hanging out with me sometimes is that she's got a crush on my brother. You know how some people are really obvious when they like someone? It's cute to watch, in a kind of awkward way."

I briefly thought of how Emily acted around Eva, but decided to say nothing.

Sphinxy leapt from Dave's arms towards Emily, who yelped in surprise and caught him while struggling to hold onto her phone. Sphinxy looked up at her with pleading eyes. "Please! You've got to take me to her! It's a matter of true love!"

I laughed. "Well, I was kind of worried about bumping into Nat's team, but if Emily's friends with this girl maybe the other Warlords aren't so bad."

Dave's face fell again. "Yeah..."

"Uh, you sure nothing's wrong?" I asked. He wouldn't meet my eyes. And here I was thinking he had cheered up.

We all stood in silence for a moment. "You know, let's go meet Tess." said Emily, typing out a text message. "Maybe she'll have some of her cupcakes left over."

 

* * *

 

It turned out she didn't have any cupcakes left over. She had given the rest of them to some friends of hers at the calligraphy club, apparently because she couldn't convince her team (or Emily's brother) to try them. She had texted Emily back saying she was fine with meeting us.

Tess was wearing an oversized pink hoodie today. Her long hair looked like it had been dyed a lot more recently to be blonde again, presumably because she wanted it like that for the tournament.

"Hey Tess." she said.

"Emily!" the older girl pulled her into a hug. "Like, how've you been?"

Emily giggled. "I'm fine, yourself?"

Tess let Emily go, and shrugged. "Eh, you know how my team is. They're kind of bogus sometimes, but whatever." She turned to look at Dave, Sphinxy and myself. "Who's the crew?"

"Tess, this is Dave, Timo, Tsukiusagi..." she paused for a second, looking at the armorknight sitting on his hind legs, front paws held up to his chin as his eyes were giant hearts. "And Sphinxy."

"Oh hey! You're that groovy dude who popped in while I was baking!" she said, squatting down to pat Sphinxy on the top of his headdress. "Like, nice to see you again!"

Sphinxy practically swooned in delight. Tess stood up to look at us. Specifically, at me. Squinting suspiciously at my face, she started saying "Hey, you look kinda like..." She snapped her fingers under one sleeve. "You wouldn't happen to be related to...?"

I sighed. Of course she'd notice. Nat was her teammate, after all. "Yeah, but she'd never say it herself." I said.

"Oh, harsh." she said. "Well, moving on... The other dude's your boyfriend Dave, right?" she said with a wink at Emily.

Emily laughed and rolled her eyes. "He's not my boyfriend, but yes."

Dave shook his head. "Definitely not."

"I totally remember you saying you wanted to hold hands with one of your team." she said, winking at Emily. "Buuuuuut it can't be Timo, I know he wasn't with you guys last time round." She waved her sleeves at me. I assume she'd be giving me double finger-guns if her hands were visible.

Emily blushed slightly. "W-well anyway, moving on..."

"Let me guess, you're here to spy on me because of the new guy's big sis, right?" She stuck out her tongue. "Can't resist checking out the competition, huh?"

"Well no, actually..." I started.

"Like, I can't blame you. Everyone wants to know about that groovy strong chick, ever since she muscled her way onto the team." She laughed, and waved a sleeve. "Me, I'd find it weird dating a girl who could lift and throw me with one hand. But she'd totally be the type of guy I'd go for if she was one, y'know?"

I _really_ didn't know. But I did see the chance to ask something I had been wondering about.

"She beat all of you at the same time?" I asked.

"What, a 3-on-1 buddyfight?" Tess giggled. "You'd have to be _butts-out nutso_ to think you could win _that_."

She twirled some of her hair in one hand, looking thoughtful. "But, like, that's how Johnny tried to get in, back before I joined. He didn't beat the whole lineup at once, but he pulled off a pretty rad run at it. Got on the team just 'cause they liked his all-in tricky style, y'know?"

"It's not actually why we came here, but have you got any idea why she wanted to join your team so badly?" asked Emily.

"Eh, she's not really the talking type, y'know? Like, she does talk, but it's always this uncool 'we need to fight strong opponents' and that we have to, like, 'show the power of our world'." said Tess, slipping into a pretty decent impression of Nat's voice. Was that really what she was saying to them? Dave certainly looked surprised by it. "She never wants to, like, talk about music or anything? Totally not righteous." she said, gesturing vaguely to her keyboard with a flapping sleeve.

"You know that jacket she's always wearing? Mikey totally sewed that for her." she said, laughing. "Sucking up to the new boss much? Like, if I didn't know him so well I'd think he totally had a crush on her."

Apparently Tess was on a roll here. I got the feeling her team didn't listen to her when she started ranting like this. I guess it did explain where she had gotten that jacket from - Dave had mentioned Schwarzschild was in the sewing club. Not very useful information, though.

"Ever since Esteban left it's just not been as fun, you know?" She gave a deep overly-dramatic sigh, making her look kind of silly in her oversized clothes. "Nat kicked Johnny out the second she could, and he's still totally cheesed about that so he doesn't talk to me much. And Mikey... well, he's just become even more of a creep since Nat showed up, and his new buddy just made that more bogus."

Emily put a hand on Tess' shoulder. "You know, you could always leave the team? I'd just switch to another team if I ever felt that bad about it." she said. "I mean, I'm not saying join _us_ , but there's always the Seven, and you're easily good enough to join the Knights."

"Like, no way!" she said, stomping a foot. "I earned my way onto the team fair and square, and Esteban told me 'you gotta look after the team for me - it's good cross-brand promotion!'" she continued, slipping into a deep and overly confident voice that sounded like she was about to throw in a matching set of kitchen knives with some dubiously useful purchase. If Esteban was on her team before that must be Enterprise's actual name? More to the point, is that even the way he spoke? "And I totally couldn't let him down, y'know?"

"Okay okay, fair enough." said Dave. "But we're actually here because of Sphinxy." he said, scooping up the armorknight in his arms.

"Huh? What do you want, little dude?" she said, curiously. She leaned in to look at Sphinxy.

"T-thanks for the cupcake. I lo... I l-lov..."

"Dude, what's your cat trying to say?" she said to Dave.

"C-cat?" said Sphinxy, his eyes wide. "I'm not a cat!"

"Like, you totally are a cat?" she said. "If you didn't have the weird hat I wouldn't have given you that cake."

"How could you say that to someone who loves you?" cried Sphinxy, looking heartbroken. He wriggled his way out of Dave's arms and went off to sulk in a corner.

Tess blinked in surprise. "...Like, am I missing something?" she said.

"He's, uh, very insistent that he's a sphinx. Not a cat." I answered, while Dave wandered over to comfort Sphinxy.

"Oh!" she said to me. "Sorry little dude!" she shouted in Sphinxy's direction.

"He told us he wanted to thank you for the cake, and... oh, forget it." said Emily. "It was nice talking to you again anyway."

"Hey, no big deal." she said, waving a sleeve again. "Always got time for you, girl! And it's nice to meet your friends too!" she said, gesturing vaguely towards me and Tsukiusagi, and then to Dave and Sphinxy (who seemed to have calmed down).

"I'd have brought Gorgas as well but you know he's not interested in this kind of stuff." said Emily. "Still the most reliable research buddy I could ask for and doesn't mind me handing him decks to store back in Magic World."

"S'yeah, if she kept all her decks in her room she wouldn't have anywhere left to sleep." joked Tsuki.

"Hey." said Tess, looking at me. "Want to fight?"

"Huh?" I said. Fighting one of the Warlords? She wasn't Nat, but all three of them had an absolute fearsome reputation. I wasn't sure I was up to it.

Then again, there wasn't anything at stake here. I wouldn't be disowned by another family member or recruited into another team if this went wrong. "Okay, sure." I said.

I should just keep calm here, and try to enjoy a chance to buddyfight against one of the school's top-ranked fighters. It's not like anyone expected me to win here, and it's not like I really needed to.

"So where are we buddyfighting? Uh, Emily could probably clear part of the lab..."

Tess burst into laughter, and looked at Emily. " _The lab_? You're making your team fight in _the lab_?" Tess put an arm around Emily's shoulder and patted the younger girl on the head with her other hand (or at least the sleeve it was in). "That's totally an Emily thing to do!"

Emily laughed nervously and fidgeted with her glasses, the hint of a blush on her face. "W-well, it's always a good place for us all to meet up?"

"Like, we're the champions." said Tess. "I could totally just book up the fight stage right now and they'd be all, 'yeah Tess just go nuts with that' and I'd be like 'cool beans bro' and give 'em the double finger-guns." she said, putting on an oddly deep voice for her impersonation of herself. I wondered if she'd roll up her hoodie to show off said hand gesture or just flail her sleeves at them.

 

* * *

 

True to her word, Tess had managed to get us the fight stage on almost no notice. The boisterous Warlord stood opposite me on the fight stage, laughing along with her buddy at some joke I hadn't heard. Some girls who had their own team practice rescheduled for this sat in the audience, sulking. A few other students were in the crowd as well, probably more to see Tess than for me.

"Walking a treacherous path where each step may be your last!" My core deck case became a sheathed katana on my hip, and I pulled my opening hand from it. "Luminize - Rabbit Trail!"

"Let's have a great buddyfight!" said Tess, smiling. Her deck case became a pair of headphones, which she slung around her neck. "Luminize - Excellent Adventure!"

"Katana World!" I said, holding the flag. Tsukiusagi stood beside me.

"Dragon World's my jam!" said Tess.

Napoleon was behind her, holding the flag. He was sitting astride his white dragon. In addition to his hat he was now wearing a suit of armor and a long red cloak. He looked very regal and imposing considering I now knew that he had as much of a sweet tooth as Emily. I wondered if he ever did finish the Ziggy Pig.

"Charge and draw!" she said, stepping to the left and right as if dancing. "Like, I'll start by calling Dragon Knight bodacious to the right." she said, calling an older man in green samurai armor riding a green dragon, which was clad in spiked turtle-like armor.

"My name is Bokuden." said the old man.

"Like, close enough Bo? Anyway, he's got this kickin' rad skill. He lets me look at my gauge, and send every Dragon Knight in it to the dropzone." she said.

"Kashima shinto-ryu!" yelled the samurai, raising his sword in the air.

The cards from her gauge flew down so she could inspect them. She tapped two, and they dissolved. "Then I get to totally put that many cards back into my gauge. Tubular, am I right?" The one remaining from her original gauge returned, and two cards flew out from her deck.

Gauge filtering? Her buddy did revive monsters from the dropzone, so I guess that would give her more options late-game.

"Then I cast my set spell, Transportation Air Lane! If I've got a Dragon Knight monster, which Bo totally is, I can charge and draw an extra time each turn!" she flipped a card from her hand away with one long sleeve, and made a sweeping circular motion with both her hands that was apparently close enough to the core in her headphones to count as drawing. The set spell was apparently shown on the field by a pair of tiny dragons carrying little lanterns - for air traffic control, I guess.

"And I'll pay a life to equip Steel Fist Dragoknuckle!" she said, a black gauntlet with a yellow sun symbol appearing on her left hand over her overly long sleeve. "I can pay a gauge to totally pump it up when attacking, but that's not the important part." she said, point a finger of the gauntlet at me.

She leapt forward, directly at me, grinning. "Watch out dude, I'm attacking directly!"

She punched me in the face. Then she jumped back to her side of the field. "When I deal damage my Dragoknuckle's excellent effect kicks in. Volcanic Charge is one groovy effect that gives me one extra gauge!" A card shot out of her deck into her gauge as she said this.

"And that's all for now!" she said cheerfully, waving her right sleeve around.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/2/6 | 9/5/3

"Draw! Charge and draw!" I said, thinking about my move. Her deck was building up to something gauge-intensive, and probably game-ending. I knew her buddy was Dragon Knight Napoleon, who cost 3 gauge to call out and revived another dragon knight if you could afford to pay the cost for it, and facing down 5 size worth of monsters on top of her Dragoknuckle would doubtlessly be more than I could handle.

Now that I thought about it _of course_ her real core gadget was a sledgehammer. It was a type associated with players who ran high-damage decks that hit all at once. She already had enough gauge that if her buddy was in her hand she could metaphorically drop the hammer and hit me for my full life total next turn, so I'd need to be careful here.

Bokuden had already used up his effect, and one of the Dragon Knights she had left in her dropzone might already be her choice of target for Napoleon.

"I pay one gauge to call Agent Ninja Linzo to the center!" The blue ninja with goggles appeared.

"Like, he gives you a card, right?" asked Tess.

I smiled as said card flew out of my deck, and was shuffled into my hand. "That's right! One Lethal Formation to my hand!"

As well as a searcher, Linzo was a tough center monster that wouldn't leave when my turn ended. Dragon Knights didn't have much access to Penetrate so he could slow down her attacks.

"I'll also call Benishojo to the right!" The red-haired skull warrior appeared.

I pointed at Tess. "Linzo, attack the fighter!"

"Hai." said Linzo, nodding. The ninja leapt forward and slashed at Tess with his two laser knives.

"Benishojo, you too!" The ape-man attacked with a loud laugh.

"Not bad, dude!" said Tess, giggling. "Not bad at all!"

"Next, I'll cast Clear Serenity!" Three cards shot into my gauge.

"Final phase! I set Lethal Formation!"

I had sent a copy of the card I wanted to my dropzone for Linzo's gauge cost, but the other one was still in my deck so I chose it to stop me drawing it later.

"I end my turn." I said, smiling. Benishojo went to the drop zone, but Linzo and my Lethal Formation should be enough to keep me in the game for a while.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/5/4 | 5/5/4

"Like, time for me to draw? Then I charge and draw." said Tess, swiping her gauntleted hand across her face to reach her core gadget. She raised that same hand in the air, striking a pose where she was pointing one finger to the sky (or possibly doing the night fever dance).

"Air Transportation Lane, go!" Her set spell's effect activated, letting her charge and draw again.

"Bokuden, take five! I call Dragon Knight Iwamoto to the left!"

Bokuden retired from the field due to the size limit - I knew her deck had ways around it, but for now she couldn't play more than a total of 3.

A horned green dragon with metal armor plating on top appeared. The armor included two large cannons mounted either side of a cockpit, presumably containing Iwamoto himself.

"If I've got another Dragon Knight I can rest my dude Iwamoto to destroy a monster. And check it!" She said pointing to her set spell. "Air Transportation Lane is a Dragon Knight card!"

"Surprise Attack!" yelled a voice from the closed cockpit. The dragon let out a breath of flame, accompanied by blasts of fire from the two cannons. Linzo was incinerated.

"Bokuden, you're back up!" said Tess, tossing a card to the right position. This time Iwamoto vanished.

"I was just getting comfortable." said the old dragon knight. "Kashima shinto-ryu!" he said, raising his sword again.

Tess sent four dragon knights away this time. "Nice!" she said, with a nod.

She looked right at me with a grin. "Your set impact. It's Dragon Vanquish Formation, right?"

She was right, but I tried not to show it on my face.

She waved her sleeve dismissively. "Well, even if it's not, it's cramping my style. I pay a gauge to cast Remove!"

"Oh no!" said Emily with a gasp. "This could be really bad for Timo!"

"Remove" asked Dave. "That's not a destruction spell, is it? I've never really played Dragon World."

"It's just for Timo - a spell that removes cards from the soul!" Emily took out her notebook and flipped through it. "It's not a Dragon World spell. It's generic, and I put it in there because her deck had real trouble against Ancient World's soulguard monsters."

Tess laughed. "It's way cool here as well! It can empty out up to two soul from any card of my choice!"

I shook my head. "I guess I've only got one card left for you to choose." The soul card, Secret Sword Dragon Vanquish Formation, flew out of my Lethal Formation and shattered. So much for that plan.

Dragon Vanquish Formation was too conditional a choice against many decks. Against my three teammates it was worse than useless - Armorknights, Slashers and Wizards couldn't even be hit by it so it'd always be a dead draw. But as the name implies it had the power to nullify the call of any Dragon monster and destroy it. It would work on literally any monster that Dragon World could hope to field. If I could stop her calling out Napoleon, the monster her deck must be built around, I could bring her deck's momentum to a grinding halt.

But with one well-timed card it looked like she had sidestepped that entirely.

"Oh, by the way, did you forget I was on five lifepoints?" she asked. That didn't sound good. "I cast, Dragonic Grimoire - Backwater Inscription!"

"Fun fact, I think I know this one." said Dave. "She can toss her hand and draw three cards, right?"

"Not exactly - Backwater Inscription only lets you draw two but gives you two gauge." said Emily. "Her deck burns through resources so fast that I actually put some of both in there."

"Check it out - I pay three gauge to buddy call Dragon Knight Napoleon to the right!"

Her buddy set down the flag, and his dragon leapt forward to put him in position. "The emperor has arrived to buddyfight." he said in a thick french accent.

"Fun fact, Emperor Napoleon the Third lived in a time when aluminium was the most expensive metal in the world. So to show off in front of his guests he'd eat off aluminium plates, and they'd have to settle for gold ones." We all stared at Dave for a moment. He closed his eyes and shrugged. "That's the only fact I know about Napoleon? And I don't even think it's the right Napoleon?"

"Dragon Knight Napoleon is totally Dragon World's version of Napoleon Bonaparte, so he's Napoleon the First." said Tess. "He's, like, one of history's greatest generals? Totally groovy guy."

"So, like, he brings his troops with him when he enters the field." she continued. "He totally pulls a size 2 monster back from the dropzone as a size 0 by paying their call cost. So for three more gauge, I can call to the left..." she raised her gauntleted arm in the air with a grin. "Come on back, Vlad Dracula!"

"Watch out Timo!" said Emily, her eyes wide. "Vlad Dracula has one critical for every Dragon Knight in her drop zone!"

"Like, even I lose track of them. So _'count'_ them up for me, Rad Dracula!" she said, pointing to the vampire-like man that had just appeared riding a red dragon.

"One, two, three! Four, five six! A ha ha!" said Vlad Dracula with a chuckle. "The rest are waste."

"Vlad Dracula's critical caps at six, and she's already hit that many!" said Emily.

"Fun fact, that's... a lot of crit." said Dave, his eyes wide. Even his Dangerous Cradle took a couple of turns to ramp up to that.

"Vlad Dracula's a rare and powerful card." said Emily. "In fact, I was only able to put one in the first build of this deck."

Tess grinned. "Esteban totally made some deals for me, and got me the other Vlads I needed. So I took the deck Emily built and made it my own!"

She jumped forward to stand between her two monsters. "In Japan they call this the Gao Formation!" She pumped her gauntleted fist, and laughed.

"Napoleon! Go for it!" said the warlord, point at me.

"The bullet that can kill me has not yet been cast! To war, Vizir!" said Napoleon, drawing his sword and urging his dragon forward to attack. He sliced through me with his sword.

"Vlad, go!"

"Thirsting! For! Life!" yelled Vlad, charging forwards on his dragon.

"I cast - Art Of Body Replacement!"

I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched Vlad Dracula stop in the middle of his attack, and return to his position on the other side of the field.

"And here's my Dragoknuckle, dude!" said Tess, suckerpunching me in the face. Another card shot into her gauge. "Check it! Another Volcanic Charge!"

"Final phase!" declared Tess.

My eyes opened wide. Dragon World had no end of high-damage impacts as finishers. Was the last card in her hand one of them?

"I cast Dragon Cavalry Arts, the Glorious Legacy!" she said, two of her gauge being spent for it. "It's a groovy card that gives me three new cards!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. Three more cards in her hand could be a real problem later, but at least it was less immediately lethal than it could have been.

"Glorious Legacy needs five Dragon Knights in the drop zone to work." said Emily. "But a deck with Vlad Dracula would want to have that many anyway."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/5/3 | 6/1/3

"Draw! Charge and draw!" I dodged out of a game-ending attack from Vlad Dracula, but everything I had seen from her deck made it look like next turn would be worse. Turbo gauge-boosting, draw power and the power to pull out new threats from her dropzone all made her deck better suited to a sustained all-out assault than mine.

It occurred to me that maybe the only reason that she wasn't _leading_ the Warlords was that their decks were all hard-counters to hers. I didn't have field-sweeping cards like Gael Khan, Dungeon Explosion or World's End in my deck. I certainly didn't have as tough a defensive monster as Nat's buddy, or the demon lord Lelag Monarch's access to soulguard-granting minions.

"I pay a gauge to call Undying Benishojo from my dropzone to the center!"

"Live, laugh, love, repeat!" bellowed the red-haired spirit as he appeared.

"Next, I call Snake Princess Setsuna to the right!" The pink-haired girl appeared, holding her snake. "And when I do I can pay one gauge to call another size 1 Skull Warrior from my dropzone - Godly-Speed Natsubame!"

The birdman with skeletal limbs appeared on my left. "Guhehe... Sandy Sprint!" he said, pointing a bony claw at me as I put a hand on my core gadget katana and drew another card.

"Sandy Sprint lets Timo draw another card, but he needs to control a Skull Warrior and it only works when Natsubame is called from the drop zone." explained Emily to Dave. I had forgotten he'd never seen this deck before, although I guess he had seen Eva running a very similar one.

If I could take out Dracula then a buddy call would push me out of being in immediate danger of losing. "Benishojo, attack Vlad Dracula!"

"You there in the red! Nice outfit!" bellowed Benishojo, leaping to attack Vlad.

"It matches the blood of our foes well." said Vlad, briefly holding off Benishojo with his weapon before Tess intervened with a spell.

"Cast - Dragobond! Vlad sticks around, and I get two life!"

"Setsuna and Natsubame, link attack Vlad Dracula!"

"The grave beckons me once more." said Vlad, shattering under the combined assault of my skull warriors.

"When my turn ends my monsters all go to the drop zone, but I can pay a gauge for Demon Way Arakuyou to draw three new cards!" I said. I looked at the cards I had just drawn. I could probably hold out another turn or two if I really had to, but I need to really push for damage next turn.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/3/6 | 8/1/2

"Draw!" said Tess. She flicked a card away with her Dragoknuckle. "Charge and draw!"

"Bogus, not what I need. I'll charge and draw again with Air Transportation Lane." she flicked away a second card, and her face lit up in joy. "Excellent!" She briefly played an air guitar with her gauntleted hand.

"I cast Dragonic Exchange! First, I put a card into my gauge!" said Tess. A card flew out of her deck to her gauge, then all the card in her gauge appeared in front of her, like when she was using Bokuden's skill. "Then I can pick any card from my gauge to put back in my hand. Hey, it's this cool cat again!" she said, making her choice.

"I'll pay three gauge and retire Napoleon to call - you guessed it, another Napoleon!"

Her deck had so many gauge-producing cards that being able to pull out extra copies of her buddy from there made a lot of sense.

"What I have done up to this is nothing!" said Napoleon, pointing his sword to the empty left position.

"I'll pay a gauge to call a size 2 monster from my dropzone!" She made a finger gun at the left position, and was presumably doing the same with her hidden hand. "Come on back, mister president!"

A dragon knight wearing a tall hat and a suit of armor that resembled a regular suit appeared, riding a silver dragon. "Liberty to all!" said the knight, who I could assume from appearance must be Dragon Knight Lincoln, the Dragon World version of the famed American president.

"You said it, Abe! And liberty means freedom - the freedom to draw more cards every time a Dragon Knight hits!" She laughed. "Napoleon, attack the fighter!"

"Counter-buddy call to the center, Lightning Speed Tsukiusagi! For one gauge I can redirect the attack to her!" I said.

"En garde, little man!" said my buddy, leaping forward to intercept Napoleon's attack and shattering from the blow.

"I am not little." huffed Napoleon as he sheathed his sword, his thick accent making it sound like 'leetle'.

"Your turn, pres!" said Tess.

"Force Core Strike!" said Lincoln. The president (was he even a president in Dragon World?) swooped forward on his dragon to strike at me with his sceptre.

"I counter-call Tsukiusagi again!"

My rabbit-masked buddy appeared again, doing a full forward rotation as she flipped through the air. "Best two out of three!" She intercepted the sceptre, shattering under the force of a blow to her stomach.

Tess grinned. "Nice! And I'll attack you myself!" she said, jumping towards me. She punched me once again, a card flying into her gauge.

"I don't get it, why not block the Dragoknuckle? She's getting gauge from it every turn." said Dave.

"But if one of her Dragon Knights had hit then she could pay a gauge to draw a card, and with her full field set up she needs cards in her hand more than she needs gauge." said Emily. "Lincoln's effect makes him very good at getting cards once you have a gauge surplus."

"Still standing? Excellent!" said Tess. She giggled. "Buddyfighting is totally all about heart! So long as you believe you've still got a chance, you can keep yourself in the game!"

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
2/1/5 | 8/1/1

"Thanks for the encouragement, I guess?" I said. Even with 2 life I still had a lot of cards in my hand.

"I'll draw! Charge and draw!" Okay. I had a couple of ways to defend myself here, and I could force her to only attack twice or risk losing to me the turn after. It wasn't a sure thing, but I could definitely pull ahead here if I was careful.

"I'll call Undying Benishojo from my dropzone to the center, for one gauge."

The primate skull warrior appeared again.

"I'll cast Demon Way Jigokuezo to call Natsubame from my dropzone to the left!" Normally I'd have to pay the cost for the monster, but Natsubame had no call cost. His effect let me draw another card, too.

"I call Undefeatable Setsujishi to the right!" I hadn't needed to call Setsujishi in my fight with Dennis. The skull warrior in blue and red armor appeared, holding a fan in one hand and a sword in the other.

"Benishojo! Attack the fighter!"

"And Natsubame!" The bird-skeleton-creature followed up with a strike at Tess.

"Now, Setsujishi! Attack her too!"

He leapt forwards, and was repelled by a giant blue dragon face.

"Cast, Blue Dragon Shield!" said Tess. A card shot into her gauge. "Like, I used to run So-Crates to defend? But this totally works better in the deck. Thanks Emily!" she said, waving cheerfully to the younger girl.

"Socrates is a size 1 monster and there just wasn't much room for him with Napoleon." said Emily.

"Final phase - I set another Lethal Formation!" It didn't really matter what I picked here, so long as it made her too cautious to go for an all-out attack. I could block two attacks with the cards in my hand, if I really had to.

"Aw man, bogus!" said Tess.

"Before my turn ends Setsujishi's effect sends Benishojo and Natsubame to the gauge!"

"Next Reincarnation!" he said, sweeping the two other Skull Warriors away with his fan.

"See you in hell!" said Benishojo cheerfully, before turning into a gauge card.

"That's all for my turn!" I said.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
2/3/3 | 4/2/0

"Draw! And charge, and draw!" said my opponent.

"I'll use Transportation Lane's effect to charge and draw one last time!"

She drew again. " _Niiiiice._ " she said with a grin.

She pointed a finger at me with her gauntlet and narrowed her eyes, a smile on her face. "I'm not going to call any more monsters. This is totally all I need to win." she said.

"Final Phase!" she declared. _Uh oh_. Aside from its versatility Dragon World was was best known for impact finishers. I was so focused on stopping her attackers that I didn't pick Moon Fang for my Lethal Formation.

"I cast - Dragon Cavalry Arts, Ultimate Smash! Both of our centers are open!" She raised her Dragoknuckle in the air. "And I've got a weapon!" She gestured to Napoleon and Lincoln. "And I've got enough Dragon Knights!"

"So I can smash every monster and item you've got, and deal three damage to you!"

She rushed forward with her knights, pushed on by a burst of energy from her impact, and struck me down.

"[Winner: Tess Williams]"

"Excellent!" she said, her long sleeves flapping as she swayed from side to side on the spot grinning madly. "That was, like, a most bodacious buddyfight!"

"I guess we should go comfort him on his loss." said Dave, shrugging.

I jumped over to Tess, and held out a hand. "Hey, thanks for the great game!" I said, smiling.

"No prob! You did pretty rad yourself!" she said, putting the end of a sleeve in my hand. I laughed.

"You know, I was worried that the Warlords might be scary because... yeah." I said. "But you're pretty cool. I can see why Emily's your friend."

"Like, don't get me wrong." she said, laughing. "If we meet up in the tournament? I'll still go totally hardcore."

"Hey, Emily, catch up with Tess for a while, okay?" said Dave. He put a hand on my shoulder, and lifted me off to the side of the stage with his buddy skill before setting me down. "Hey, you don't have to put on an act if you feel bad about losing." he said.

"What? No, I'm fine. It was just a friendly buddyfight?" I said. "It's not like I really lost anything. In fact, I think I really learned some useful stuff there."

"You... you're really okay?" said Dave. "I mean, what if something like that happens in the tournament? When you're fighting your sister?"

"It's, uh, kind of weird to see you being cautious." I said. "I mean if anything I could stand to be more like you, just going for the win and knowing my buddy has my back."

"Y-yeah." he said. "Maybe you're right."

"Dave, is this about, uh, whatever's been bugging you all day?" I asked.

He hesitated for a moment. "...Alright. I'll tell you." He took a deep breath. "Two days ago, Schwarzschild showed up. He offered me a spot on the Warlords."

"He what?" I said, surprised. "But they don't..."

"They don't really offer membership, yeah." said Dave. "They usually only care about buddyfighters who can beat them." Having fought Tess and Nat I knew first-hand just how few fighters that would be.

"Schwarzschild... he used to be a friend of mine. Almost kind of like a big brother. Back before I met you or Eva. Fun fact, his dad knows my dad, and when they were in town he'd pretty much babysit me. Taught me everything about buddyfighting I didn't learn from my dad."

"So that's why you know so much about him? Uh, like the sewing club thing?" I asked. "I mean, Emily knows Tess, and there's obviously Nat, but..."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know, what are the odds. Probably some kind of magic destiny, who cares." he said. "But we kind of fell out after I got Sphinxy."

The armorknight emerged from his card. He had been quiet since Tess had (sort-of) rejected him. "I never met the guy before I was Dave's buddy, but he hated me right away."

I resisted the urge to suggest he was more of a dog person. But suddenly things made more sense - while my sister had basically disowned me when she got her buddy, Dave's friend had ditched him when he got _his_ buddy. Maybe that's why my story made him so determined to help me.

"I think it's because he hated me using all the rock-paper-scissors cards from Dungeon World?" Dave shrugged. "Fun fact, I just wasn't anywhere near as good a buddyfighter as him, so I'd only ever win by luck."

"I can block half of the attacks people make against Dave. That's pretty good, right?" said Sphinxy.

Dave picked up Sphinxy to hold him in his arms. "I mean, I wouldn't trade Sphinxy for the world, but he's not always the most reliable in a fight."

"He said he would have let Dave join right away if he had any other buddy." said Sphinxy, sadly.

"And what he was saying recently... it almost sounded like he was threatening us. I was terrified he'd do something to you guys just to mess up my chances in the tournament, but it looks like I overreacted." said Dave, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. He still held Sphinxy close with the other arm.

"So, uh... what was your reply?" I asked.

"Huh?" said Dave.

"When he offered to let you join. This time, I mean."

"I... well, I turned him down." said Dave. "I mean he flattened me in a buddyfight right after so I still don't think I was good enough to be on their team anyway but, well, even if I was?" He raised a fist. "Fun fact, I'd rather stay on a team with you guys."

I laughed, and tapped my own fist against it. "Dave, we're all with you. You want to beat him and we'll all help however we can. I mean, I'm going to need your help keeping up with Nat, so let's all watch each other's backs, okay?"

He grinned. "Yeah, we've all got each other!" He held his buddy out in his arms, and flipped Sphinxy around to face him. "Sphinxy, I'm going to take you all the way to the finals with my the rest of my friends, you got that! That's a promise! And, fun fact?"

Sphinxy burst into a grin as well. "Fun fact, we never go back on promises!" The little armorknight started glowing.

Emily turned around. "What's going on? Is that..." Her eyes widened.

Tess grinned. "No way!"

Sphinxy was glowing too bright to look at directly, but he seemed to be changing shape. Dave set his buddy down on the ground, and we took a few steps back as he turned into his full-size form.

Sphinxy's fur pattern had changed from mostly orange with blue markings to mainly blue with hints of orange. His headdress now looked sleeker and more aerodynamic, as did the rest of his armor. The missile pads and guns on his shoulders had been replaced - on each shoulder he now had some kind of futuristic laser cannon. The spikes and blades covering random parts of his body were now armor panels that looked like they could slide aside to reveal more weaponry. Even the machinegun built into his chest was now hidden behind a retractable panel. Where the metal of his armor had previously looked to be steel it now had a gold coating. All-in-all he looked like the Sphinxy we knew but with some serious upgrades.

Dave gasped, and ran around Sphinxy's new form, before wrapping his arms around of the his buddy's huge front legs. I guess he had never done that before because there used to be a large blade jutting out on that side.

"A buddy monster evolution! Amazing!" said Emily, her eyes lighting up. "I have to know more! I've got to find out if we can get any more proof for Doctor Maro's theories!"

"Sphinxy!", she said to the newly-changed Armorknight, excitedly pulling out a notebook and pencil. "Do you feel stronger? Are you feeling like you now belong to more than one world? Do you think you have Soulguard?"

"I dunno!" said Sphinxy, bewildered. He raised one of his front paws and clenched it. "But whatever it is, I'm gonna use it to help Dave!"

Dave laughed, and lightly punched one of the armored panels on the armorknight. "Fun fact, there's only one thing you can do when something like this happens. Come on everyone, gather round!" he said, pulling out his phone to post for a selfie a few steps in front of Sphinxy's new form. I stood on one side of him, Emily on the other. Tess surprised me by joining in, putting her (still-sleeved) arms around all of us from behind, a huge grin on her face. Tsuki popped out of her card to throw a peace sign, leaning against Sphinxy's leg. Napoleon reluctantly joined her, his dragon having returned to the form of a tiny horse.

After he had taken the picture, Emily returned to interrogating Sphinxy, who clearly had no idea of anything about his new form beyond it being called Armorknight Sphinx "A". I knew the "A" or Ace line of monsters all powered up weapons when they were in the soul, but I had never heard of a Sphinx "A". He insisted on keeping the nickname Sphinxy, even when Tess suggested he could be "Sphinx _aaaaaaaay_ ".

"Guys? Uh, just Emily and Timo, I guess?" said Dave. "I've got some stuff to talk about. We should probably get Eva too. It's been fun Tess, sorry I was kind of a downer earlier."

"No biggie. See you guys next week!" said the older girl with a cheery wave. She floated off, a hobby-horse buddy skill beside her.

 

* * *

 

Dave had told us about his buddyfight with his friend-turned-nemesis Schwarzschild. His buddy sat on his lap, the armorknight's smaller form looking the same as ever except with the orange and blue markings switched.

"Sengoku Academy?" I said. "That's... kind of a bizarre thing to say."

"So anyway, he called out his three Hundred Demons..."

"Dude, a whole three hundred of them?" said Tsuki, grinning.

Dave burst out laughing, and lightly punched my buddy on the shoulder. "Fun fact, I really was feeling down earlier. But Timo? Your buddy's a real keeper." he said, giving me a thumbs up.

"All of the cards you've mentioned so far... Thunder Mine triggering on size 2 monsters and Move, as well as cards to avoid ever having to attack through Sphinxy. It sounds like he built his Hundred Demons deck just to fight you." said Emily.

"Wait, you can't change flags in the middle of a tournament, right?" I asked.

"It's not the case everywhere, but that's how it is here." said Emily.

"Fun fact, there isn't a rule stopping you from evolving monsters mid-fight." said Dave. "And at a school that happens all the time. So if your buddy evolves into something your deck can't use you might have to make them change back for a while to even be able to call them in the next round."

"Anyway, it's really rude of him to talk about us like that." said Emily. "I mean he's kind-of right that I need to keep writing everything down, but Eva's really opened up a lot since we met her."

"Yes." said the quiet girl.

Emily smiled. "And Timo's about as good a fighter as I am after just a couple of weeks."

I laughed. "Thanks, I think."

"He didn't say how he would do it." said Eva.

"Huh?" said Dave.

"You mean the, uh, 'make Karras a school where we have to fight for everything' thing?" I asked. Eva nodded.

"Huh. Now that you mention it, yeah." said Dave. "Fun fact, I thought he was talking about your big sis taking over, but just winning the tournament wouldn't do that. And Tess didn't say a thing about that. It could always just be him talking himself up."

"Maybe it's something with his buddy?" I said. "Lelag Monarch is a Hundred Demon, and who knows what's up with them." I knew it was a bit biased, since Nat had started acting this way about the time Yamigedo had turned a good chunk of Japan to stone.

Emily shook her head. "The Parade of Hundred Demons flag just fell into regular use after Yamigedo was defeated. The Hundred Demons are all reformed... more or less."

She flipped through her notebook. "One of the older girls I see around the labs has Mage Disciple Jessica as a buddy, and I gave her a copy of the notes I had made for a deck like that just the other day."

She showed off a page of notes, mostly in an untidy scrawl as if she had written them with great urgency. It'd be difficult to figure out what any of it actually said if not for the X and number at the end of each line, indicating that it was the number of specific cards needed for a deck list. Presumably when she actually finished a deck and was labelling it for other people she took a lot more time to write the details for the deck. Or maybe she just had Gorgas write them for her.

"So it's like Guardians or Executioners now?" I said. "Just another weird flag?"

"Fun fact, the only known flags that aren't available to everyone right now are all owned by Kyoya Gaen, so they're probably Gaencorp's company secrets." said Dave. Dragon Ein had still never had a public release.

Dave shrugged. "But yeah. I lost, and I won't lose next time. Sure I was shaken up, but I'm fine now. That's all there is to it." He scratched Sphinxy's ears. "No idea why he even bothered to challenge me at all, though."

"He sees you as a size zero monster." said Eva.

"A size zero monster?" said Dave, baffled.

"You think he just wanted Dave on his side as, what, a minion instead of a friend?" I said.

Eva nodded. "It fits what we know about him."

"Plus he does kind of dress like he wants to be a Demon Lord himself." I noted.

Dave sighed. "Yeah. Fun fact, I used to think his outfits all looked super-cool."

"He's in the sewing club, right? I guess they're at least well-made." I mused. "Come to think of it, you know what's in his Dungeon World deck?" I asked Dave, remembering him describe a deck named 'Monster Party'

"I haven't actually played against his new Dungeon World deck. But, fun fact, Eva's in the journalism club and they are _really_ good at finding out stuff like that, so she just told me about it." he said. He turned to Eva. "Is that why you were busy today?"

"Mostly." she said.

Dave nodded. "Fun fact, Karl's got one of the sneakiest buddy monsters in the school." He put his hands together and wiggled his fingers, as if they were a spider. I didn't know of any bug monsters in buddyfight. "He's no great deckbuilder himself but it's pretty hard to get the drop on him." said Dave. He smiled. "Oh, another fun fact, he was wearing a chicken mask for the whole of last year's big tournament. Hell if I know why but it was pretty funny. Great guy, Karl." He laughed.

Emily laughed as well. "His whole team had animal masks last time. Professor Stolas got the fright of his life when he saw someone wearing a mask that looked just like his face." She looked thoughtful for a second. "What was their leader's name, Nina? She got a new buddy recently."

"Death Ruler Galkheight." added Eva with a nod. "They are Darkness Dragon World users."

"Huh." said Dave. "Anyway, this has kind of got away from why I called you guys here."

"What, because some theatre nerd's all up in your business and you want to kick his butt in the tournament?" said Tsuki.

"...yeah? Pretty much." said Dave.

"So, DV, if you got the choice would you want one of us to fight him or are you gonna beat him down yourself?" asked Tsuki.

Dave clenched a fist, and grinned. "Fun fact, I'm going to beat him with my buddy's cool new form. Isn't that right, Sphinxy?"

"Yeah!" said the armorknight, raising one of his own tiny paws in imitation.

"...I mean, if my best friend makes me a cool new deck with him in it. Please?" he said clapping his hands together and looking at Emily.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Like I'd say no, Dave."

"While you're at it, do you think you could make a more Skull Warrior-focused deck for me?" I said. "Secret Swords are great and they've saved me a bunch of times, but running both in the same deck... well, you saw that fight with Tess." She had pretty effectively shut down my Lethal Formation with one well-timed play, all because I had been relying on it as my main defense instead of bringing Skull Warriors that could defend or one of their famed revival set spells. "If I went all in on support for my buddy it might be better."

"Aw, TZ, I didn't know you felt so strongly about me already!" said Tsuki, grinning.

I laughed. “So yeah, Emily. If that’s the kind of deck you’d build for cupcakes I’d be happy to make you some lunches.” I said.

Emily giggled at my offer. She then looked at Eva, as if expecting her to ask for a new deck too. "Eva?" She shook her head in response.

"I'm fine for now." She closed her eyes and nodded a little. "Thank you for thinking of me."

Daved grinned and stood up, Sphinxy jumping from his lap. "So it's settled! I get a new deck! You get a new deck! And we try our best to win!"

 

* * *

 

"Heeeey, you'll never guess who I ran into today!" said Tess, waving an arm above her head as she walked into the room. "I totally played against your little bro!"

Nat scowled from her seat, clenching a fist in anger. "How _dare_ you. He's not my-"

"Yeah yeah, not your brother." said Tess dismissively, rolling her eyes.

"I told you. Both of you. _Don't interfere._ " said Nat, glaring at her teammate. "He has to get stronger himself if-"

Tess leaned on the back of the chair, holding a sleeve up to the side of her mouth as if whispering but continuing to talk normally. "You know he's got a buddy now."

"A buddy." repeated Nat, speaking more calmly.

"Totally! Cute chick with a rabbit mask! A real jive-talker!" she said, stepping back and holding her long sleeves up to the side of her head as if they were floppy rabbit ears. She tilted from side to side to let them sway around. "A funny bunny buddy! Totally groovy!"

"...Good." said Nat, turning away.


	10. A Quiet Blue Flame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Emily and Dave off at the labs figuring out what they can about Sphinxy's new form, Eva reflects on her past.

"[Winner: Evangeline Friday]"

Eva, eight years old, stood on the fight stage. She had done it! She had won a buddyfight with the deck her papa gave her! She gave a wide grin. She didn't feel like smiling often, so whenever she did her smiles always came out extra big. She waved to her friends out in the audience, but they didn't seem as happy as her for some reason.

 

* * *

 

Eva sat at her desk, in the front row. She was wearing a blue dress - her favorite color - with ribbons running up the back. Her short dark hair framed both of her green eyes.

She heard the other girls whispering from behind.

"Have you seen that creepy girl? When she smiles while she's buddyfighting?"

"I know! She looks like some crazy killer!"

"She looks more like a monster than the actual monsters!"

"And she's always laughing at weird times?"

"Must be something wrong with her."

"Ha, what a weirdo!"

Eva tried to keep smiling. Those girls were just being silly, they'd stop making fun of her weird expressions after a while.

Eva didn't smile much after a few months of it.

After two years, she just didn't show any emotion if she could help it.

 

* * *

 

She was ten years old now, her hair grown long to cover most of her face. She didn't want anyone looking at her, not even...

"Eva." said her papa, squatting down so he was at eye level with her. "The teachers say you almost go days without talking now, and that your grades are slipping in everything but buddyfighting. Is there something wrong? Something with the school?"

She didn't answer, her eyes downcast.

"How about a change of scenery?" he asked, stroking his goatee. "There's a school called Karras Academy..."

 

* * *

 

Eva sat alone, on one of the rooftops of Karras Academy. She was dressed in a nondescript black sweater and skirt, her hair covering most of her face (except one eye). Even at this new school, she didn't like being the center of attention.

She was reading a book, as she so often did. Books didn't call you names, or suddenly decide they weren't your friend any more. They were a silent comfort to her when she was alone, and the academy's library was well-stocked. As well as an entire section on Buddyfighting theory there was an extensive collection of fiction - she enjoyed reading horror stories because they reassured her that maybe she herself wasn't so scary.

"Spooky Girl", they had started calling her here, almost right away when they realised she just didn't smile. It was fine. It bothered her a lot less than the names whispered behind her back before.

 

* * *

 

The strange blue-haired boy grinned at Eva. He had apparently noticed her reading on the roof, and thought it strange enough to check out. He had waited until she closed her book before bouncing forward to talk rapidly about 'fun facts'.

He had also wasted no time in asking to buddyfight her.

"Dragon World." she said. She was still using the deck papa had given her, over two years ago.

"And we're with Danger World!" said Dave, as a tiny Armorknight Sphinx struggled to wave the flag for him. Dave laughed, and put a hand on the flag as well to help him.

 

* * *

 

"[Winner: Eva Friday]"

The staff in her hand faded away. Dave burst out laughing.

"Fun fact, I really wasn't expecting to lose so badly. I've never seen any of your matches, but whatever team you're on? They're lucky to have you!" he said, giving a thumbs up.

"I'm not." she said, her gaze as indifferent as it had been for the whole fight.

"Huh? Not what?"

"On a team." she said, staring at him.

Dave's eyes lit up, and he practically bounced around Eva in excitement. As he circled her, he started explaining. "Fun fact, I want to make a team with my best friend, but we need a third fighter. How about-"

"No." interrupted Eva in a flat monotone. She didn't even pause to think it over. Of course they'd just be like all the others. The friends she thought she had two years ago, and everyone she had thought could be a friend since then. Did Dave only talk to her to get a space-filler for a team he was forming with someone he actually liked?

Dave fake-pouted, and shrugged. "Oh well, it was worth a shot. If you ever want to talk or buddyfight, just think of your friend Dave." he said with a wink, before taking off with his buddy skill.

Then again, his happiness throughout (and before, and after) the fight had seemed sincere. While he sounded like the kind of boy who would talk constantly to anyone who would listen, he had also sounded like he'd genuinely consider Eva to be a friend after only meeting her once.

 

* * *

 

It was the morning breaktime, a week or so after she first met Dave. He had came back to the rooftop a few times, and while he always looked excited to talk about one subject or another to Eva he always tried to wait until she had finished whatever chapter she was on in her books.

"So you don't feel up to buddyfighting today?" asked Dave, sitting back with his hands behind his head.

She did feel up to it. She wanted to so badly. To just enjoy a buddyfight with this boy.

"I can't." she finally replied.

"Wanna talk about it?" he said, absently scratching behind Sphinxy's ear.

She pondered her reply for a few seconds, weighing up how much she could say to him without him suddenly realizing what everyone must have back then, that she didn't deserve any kindness.

No, she shouldn't think of herself that way. She truly had started thinking of Dave as a friend, the only one she had. While she didn't know if she would ever be able to fully open up to him, she could tell him the reason. Some of it, at least. "It's my deck."

"Huh. What about it?" he said, his buddy purring contentedly.

She looked down. "Missing." Different school, different girls, same problem. One of them had hidden her deck somewhere - she had overheard a group of them laughing about it. The Dragon World deck her papa had given her, gone.

Dave laughed. "Oh man. Fun fact, you wouldn't believe how many times I forgot my deck at home back before I had Sphinxy to nag me for that."

He didn't understand. Of course. Even if she told him he'd probably think it was all a misunderstanding. She didn't expect to ever get that deck back.

"But, fun fact!" he said, holding up a finger. "I know a girl who has a ton of decks she'd loan us, if you don't mind using a borrowed deck. I'll go bug her at lunch, okay?"

 

* * *

 

"Here you go." said Emily, having dug her key out of her pockets. Her moms were staying in Academy City this year, so she and Dennis were living in an apartment with them. Most of the time they were touring the world, a famed tag-team that had been world champions once and serious competitors many other times. Dave had first met Emily years ago on one of the Primrose family's visits to Academy City, and had kept in touch with Emily over that time.

"Just fly over there and get a deck from my room. I'm not sure why you need it - the Danger World one I built you is fine, right?"

"The deck I'm asking for is kind of not for me?" said Dave, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. "Fun fact, I met a girl who doesn't have a deck on her, and... well, you know how it is." he said with a grin.

"You're doing this to flirt with a girl?" said Emily. She laughed, and shook her head. "Any of them who're into buddyfighters wouldn't be caught dead without a deck."

"Eh, she said she didn't bring it today. Well, I guess she didn't _say_ that, she just said she didn't have it." Dave shrugged. "Fun fact, it's kind of hard to get Eva to say much at all, even if she's an amazing buddyfighter. She came up with some really cool combos to-"

Emily looked surprised, and held up a hand to interrupt Dave. "Wait wait wait, _Eva?_ The weird girl from math class who just sits at the back, never says a word?" she asked.

Dave laughed. "Fun fact, you've been to math maybe five times this term. I kind of miss you there. Though I guess with smarts like yours you should be the one teaching us." he said, sticking his tongue out.

Emily ignored the compliment. "You really do mean _Spooky Girl_ , right? _That's_ who you want this deck for?"

"Fun fact, it's all part of my plan to be on a team with the two cutest girls in our year." said Dave with a wink.

"You think she's... no, never mind." Emily sighed. "Well, if it's for that Spooky Girl, I think I've got something." Emily took a notebook out of her pocket, and flipped through it. "Ah, there's that Katana World one she'll probably like. Top shelf, third from the left."

"Got it. I'll give it back after school." he said, giving a thumbs up. He switched his buddy skill on.

"She can keep it, if she wants." said Emily, shrugging. "It's not like we know any other Katana World players, so it's no big deal."

"Just tell me how it plays, okay?" she said with a smile. "If you're serious about wanting to form a team then I'll need to get better at deckbuilding."

 

* * *

 

Eva looked through the deck, Dave grinning as he watched. Lethal Formation with Skull Warriors and no Ninjas at all? An odd choice, but it could work.

"I didn't know what kind of deck to ask for. But, fun fact, Emily had put together this Skull Warrior deck and she thought you might like it. Don't worry about giving it back, she said you could keep it." he said, giving a thumbs up. "So what do you think? Do you like it?"

"Yes." said Eva. While she was more a fan of western horror she did occasionally read Japanese stories about _youkai_ she had found in the academy's library. The defensive set impacts also appealed to her a little, although she had never used them as papa's Dragon World had no access to anything like them. Being so uncomfortable in crowds she tended to learn new playstyles by watching videos of fights, and there were enough Katana fighters at Karras that she had seen some very interesting uses of the world.

"Fun fact, you know what'd be pretty cool?" said Dave. "You're buddyfighting some dude and you buddy call, and you just flip your hair over to the other side. And the guy sees you've got a _sharingan_ and he freaks out. You know, the bloodline power eye?" He laughed. "Or just a red contact lens, I guess."

Eva nodded. If she did join their team then maybe playing up her reputation to unnerve tournament opponents might help Dave and his friend win. Joining Dave on a team would be nice, and with the way he always talked about his other friend Eva thought she sounded like a genuinely kind person.

What did he say her name was - Emily? Dave _had_ said she didn't mind giving it away rather than just loaning it. She would have to remember to thank her.

"Fun fact, Emily always makes a luminize chant and deck name for any experimental decks that she thinks are worth using. There's an index card with those. Here." he said, handing it over with a sly grin. "I thought I'd let you look through the deck first."

Eva looked at the messy writing on the card. It was a little hard to read, at first. Her own writing was always neat and evenly-spaced, with care and attention for every letter so she could read it back later. This writing, on the other hand, seemed more focused on the whole - it felt like the writer had suddenly came up with something so exciting that they had to get down on paper the very second they thought of it. Individual letters were wildly different sizes, starting off huge but becoming thinner near the end of each line so they could fit in.

She read the luminize chant and deck name, and despite herself let out an amused snort, covering her mouth with a hand. Dave grinned.

She returned to her usual blank expression. She closed her eyes while she said the chant. "There are twenty ninjas in this deck." she said, and opened her eyes. "Luminize - None Of Them Can Be Seen."

 

* * *

 

"Fun fact, I know everyone calls you a _spooky girl_ but I can't see that any more." said Dave. "I mean it's weird that you barely talk and you've got a _killer_ poker face, but you really are nice in your own way."

Eva stared at him with her one uncovered eye for a few seconds, not fully sure how to reply to the compliment. "Thank you." she said quietly.

Dave grinned. "Hey, no problem. But fun fact, even if you were spooky on top of that I probably wouldn't mind." He rubbed the back of his head with a hand. "My mom and dad's buddies were from Dungeon World, so I was practically raised by a demon lord and the king of all serpents."

"A demon lord?" asked Eva. Dave hadn't mentioned this to Eva before, and he had talked _a lot_ around her. She had already assumed his father was her history teacher, Professor V, due to their similar appearances, and that the dog-sized reptile monster often seen with him wasn't actually a dragon at all. It was the first time he had mentioned his mother at all.

"Yeah, Joker Grunwald. He was my mom's buddy before, well..." Dave trailed off, a hint of sadness in his voice.

He shook his head, and continued in a more cheerful tone. "But yeah. Fun fact, Grunwald once told me he had put a curse on me, that I had to solve his ultimate riddle or be banished to the Goblin Kingdom forever. But he was just tricking me into doing my math homework. Apparently Demon Lords just love coming up with complicated schemes for fun."

He smiled after that anecdote. Eva was content to just listen to the boy talk, especially since he seemed to actually be trusting her with stories about his family. Sometimes it felt like he was trying to talk enough for both of them.

"Oh, and another fun fact - Meteor Rain's my dad's buddy, but Grunwald is sort-of my godfather because of some weird Dungeon World law. My parents beat his dungeon so technically they own it? But they kind of adopted him into the family on top of making him a buddy because they don't want to own a 30-story underground deathtrap." Dave shrugged. "I mean, it'd be fun to own immovable rods or his magic bottle that connects to the Elemental Plane Of Mountain Dew but I wouldn't want to take away that kind of cool stuff from someone else."

 

* * *

 

"Eva Friday? Emily Primrose." said Dave, pushing the pink-haired girl towards Eva. "Fun fact, we've been friends since we were kids, and she's the best deckbuilder I know!" he said with a wink.

"I'm not really that great, but thanks?" said Emily, looking aside at Dave. She looked forwards at Eva. "Um, hi? It's nice to meet you." she said cheerfully, raising a hand.

Eva closed her eyes for a moment, before pulling her hair to one side. She had promised herself she would give thanks if she ever met Dave's friend, and even if she felt a little nervous around someone she had never met she'd stick to it. She looked at Emily with both her green eyes uncovered, and bowed her head slightly.

"Thank you for the deck." she said quietly. "It means a lot." Her hair gradually fell back to cover her eye, as she continued looking at Emily. She had never met this girl before, but just giving away a deck to someone you had never met was a strangely sweet gesture. She hoped to make as good a first impression on Emily as she had made on Eva, or at least give her best effort at doing so. She didn't know what she'd do if Dave's best friend hated her right away.

Emily blushed a little, and smiled. "Well, it was nothing. Any friend of Dave's is a friend of mine." she said, waving a hand as if brushing it off.

"Fun fact, she doesn't have a buddy either." said Dave. "So I guess Sphinxy and me'll be taking the lead if we really do get a team together."

"Oh, how is the deck?" said Emily, pulling a notebook and pencil from her pockets, her bright blue eyes staring at Eva in anticipation. "I wasn't sure if it needed more resource balancing. Maybe it could do with some more draw power... Oh, you've played it, would you say it needs more lifegain? Gauge? Search?"

Eva thought for a moment, carefully considering her answer for the pink-haired girl. In her head she pored over experience gleaned from playing the deck against Dave's Danger World, and the decks of a few classmates when she had to for class. "...Gauge." she said. "It runs out sometimes."

"Yes, the Secret Swords really do eat into that." said Emily, enthusiastically making frantic notes in increasingly messy handwriting. "More copies of Clear Serenity would be an option, but so would a Hiunmaru engine..." She flipped back in the notebook to a page which appeared to be the decklist. "You haven't changed any of the cards in it yourself, have you?" said Emily, looking at Eva expectantly.

"...No." said Eva. She wouldn't change Emily's work. It wouldn't feel right. Eva could feel from the very moment she looked through the deck for the first time, and from when she had seen Emily's handwritten note that Dave had handed her with it, that the girl poured her heart and soul into every new deck she built. Even strange ones that didn't always work very reliably. Eva admired that dedication, and resolved to put as much hard work into the stories she had started writing over the years she had spent friendless.

 

* * *

 

"We've been drawn against the Warlords." said Emily, fidgeting with her glasses. Eva had noticed the other girl often did so when she was saying something she thought was particularly insightful. Eva had realized after watching Emily a few times that she was checking to see whether she was wearing her goggles, possibly to avoid the embarrassment of someone pointing out that she hadn't switched them when changing into or out of her labcoat.

Eva had made sure to watch Emily's fidgeting more intently since realizing this, just to be sure if her theory was correct. The deckbuilder had caught her staring more than once, pausing in her cute habit to briefly look away with a blush.

"Fun fact, their leader calls himself Enterprise. You wouldn't think a fast-talking hustler who's all about making deals would turn out to be a trekkie, but hey."

"Enterprise. A company, a business or a risky project." said Eva quietly.

"Oh." said Dave, holding a palm facing upwards in front of himself and hitting it with a fist. He laughed and opened that fist to point at Eva. "Yeah, that actually makes a lot more sense than what I was thinking, thanks."

"They're going to lead with Enterprise or Schwarzschild." said Emily, looking at her notebook. "Tess told me the other day that she and Johnny might get sidelined because their leader wants to fight in every round. It's his last year."

Dave nodded, and turned to Eva. "Eva. Do you feel up to going first? I mean, fun fact, you've got better chances than Emily on this one, but it's up to you if you want to go second? Or for Emily to..."

"I will go." said Eva. "David. If I fight Enterprise..."

She paused, staring at him with one eye. She reached a hand up to her hair and pulled it out of the way of her eyes so she could stare with both.

"Run four Fanged Dragon Declarations." she said, giving him her honest opinion about the only way he could win that fight.

"Huh?" said Dave, watching Eva make her way to the fight stage.

 

* * *

 

Eva stood on the fight stage, her two friends cheering her on from the buddy pit. Emily had modified her Katana World deck a few times since giving her the cards. The nerdy girl had sometimes sat with Eva in the labs to talk about the changes, sometimes up on the isolated rooftop that was Eva's usual lunchtime haunt. Eva had found that she had enjoyed listening to Emily's deckbuilding theories and strategic discussion, and felt like she could listen to the bespectacled girl speak for hours. Sometimes she even had, only putting forward a few words of her own when needed to hear more of Emily's cheerful rambling and sweet voice.

After only a handful of tuning matches with Dave, Eva had picked up which cards would work as good sideboard material in the deck build Emily had prepared for her. It was a skill she would be glad to have when drawn against the leader of the Warlords, a team that (with a gradually changing lineup) had consistently made it to the finals for almost the entire previous decade.

"Our market research shows that the most popular luminize chants in all our key demographics are the longest ones, so the boys in marketing put their heads together and came up with the longest luminize chant of all time!" said Enterprise in a confident voice, a grin on his face. His core deck case turned into a golden megaphone with the core on top. "Luminize - Three Word Name!"

"Katana World." she said.

"We're with Hero World!" said Enterprise, grinning behind his ridiculous dollar-symbol sunglasses, Thief Cat sitting on his shoulder.

 

* * *

 

"[Winner: Enterprise]"

"Take it to the bank, boys!" he said, shouldering his Sneak Judgement gun before it faded away. "Better luck next time, spooky girl!"

She had lost. She might have cost her friends a chance to win the tournament. If only she had set a Secret Sword Moon Fang, or maybe if she had played more offensively.

She had barely been able to speak more than the words needed to make the system recognize her moves. Draw. Charge. Draw. Attack. No witty banter or clever comments, just a near-silent stare against her opponent. Her ever-present inability to show emotion not exactly endearing her to the crowd even as it kept all of her focus on the fight. But that focus wasn't enough to win against such a skilled opponent.

Dave and Emily had trusted her to win this fight, and she had let them down. What would they say to her now?

 

* * *

 

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Eva." said Dave with a shrug. "Fun fact, you did a lot better than I did - Schwarzschild rolled over my deck without breaking a sweat. Enterprise had to pull out all the stops to hit you with that impact."

Eva was a little relieved. Whether or not Dave actually blamed her for Emily not getting a chance to fight, it meant a lot to her that he'd say she wasn't to blame.

"But, uh... fun fact, you were right." said Dave, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "I charged away a Fanged Dragon Declaration on turn one without thinking, and I didn't switch in more copies, and that _really_ came back to bite me. How'd you know?"

"Arkdra." said Eva, thinking of the size 3 Demon Lord Schwarzschild's deck called out and used as its main monster. "She is effectively his buddy."

"Wait, effectively..." Dave looked puzzled for a second, then snapped his fingers. "You watched some of his matches?"

"Yes." said Eva, staring at Dave with her one uncovered eye.

She didn't feel very much at home in a large crowd, with or without her friends. But watching the matches, the play and counterplay between the greatest buddyfighters in the school, was always interesting. Dave would never sit still long enough to watch more than one fight if he wasn't there in person. Emily would see some interesting combo and immediately focus on working out what else could be added to a deck to support it, instead of actually watching the deck in action. Eva watched them alone, watching for any sign of a weakness in a deck's strategy, anything she could use to help her friends win.

"And you realized..." Dave paused for a moment, trying to think of what that actually implied. "You realized he was going to wait until I'd go all-in on an attack and counter it with a spell, because his deck can get those basically for free?"

Eva nodded. The Warlords were one of the most visible teams, rarely battling anywhere but the fight stage in the years since Enterprise had became their leader. Even though they had been a strong legacy team for much longer, he had made certain that the newer members were as flashy and flamboyant as himself to suit his own ideals of 'brand' and 'marketing'.

It was simple enough to look back through archived footage of their fights and see that their Dungeon Enemy player always called his buddy to the side to support a tough monster in the center, and that the Dragon Demon Lord Arkdra was the true power behind his deck. She would have trouble voicing all of that, even to a friend like Dave, but the advice she had given him on cards to add from his sideboard was absolutely sincere.

"Working out something like that? That's full-on analyst-level stuff!" said Dave grinning at her. "Fun fact, every team at Karras has good fighters, but only a handful of them have real analysts! That's so cool, Eva!"

He wasn't disappointed that she hadn't been able to say all that to him? No, one of her friends had just called something she did 'cool'. She needed to actually say it out loud, she needed to be more confident. "You're not disappointed?" she asked.

"Well, it does suck that we didn't win this one." he said with a laugh. "But fun fact? Emily's getting better at deckbuilding every day. And fun fact, if you're with us... I think we can win next time!" he said, clenching a fist in determination.

His good cheer in the face of defeat was infectious. Eva knew at that moment that if he entered again next time she wanted to be a part of his team. To be on a team with her friends again. Being an analyst for the team, actually having a real purpose supporting her friends like Emily did as their deckbuilder and Dave did as their leader.

 

* * *

 

They watched the rest of the matches for that day. Eva still wasn't good with crowds, but with Dave sitting on one side of her and Emily on the other she felt a little better about it. She got the feeling Dave had pulled the other girl aside to suggest that seating arrangement, and was silently thankful for it.

Emily's brother was facing an incredibly muscular girl running an Armorknight deck with only a temporary buddy. A boy Eva's age (the girl's younger brother?) was cheering her on from the front row. After a long back-and-forth between their respective decks the two were laughing and joking their way through each turn. The girl eventually scraped out a narrow win, but Dennis' teammates won their own matches and eventually moved on to the finals.

The very final match of the tournament was a sight to see. A strongly-defensive lifegain deck ran by a tall blue-haired girl with a stethoscope core gadget, her buddy a Blue Sky Knights Slenje Dragon - Emily was cheering her on, as the girl was a member of her brother's team and apparently in her final year at Karras, just like the Darkhero fighter she had faced in her first round.

The older girl had been holding out for many turns against an Adventurer deck heavily based around Mission Cards ran by a boy with a green mohawk from the year above Eva. After a nail-biting series of turns - so intense that Emily had forgotten to take notes on the decks being played - the boy finally managed to and the tournament came to an end.

The Warlords, the team who had knocked out Team Certain Success with little effort, had taken the cup.

 

* * *

 

"So what else do you do for fun anyway?" said Dave. "I mean, aside from buddyfight and reading?"

She hesitated for a few moments. "I write."

"Huh. What do you write about?"

When she was feeling sad she wrote about herself in worlds where things had turned out better.

As a young Dragon Knight, training in the art of swordfighting rather than the staff she had wielded when using her papa's deck. She had heard stories of Tasuku Ryuenji, albeit before he had become such a well-known fixture in the Buddy Police as their Boy Wonder, and was fascinated by the stories of Jackknife Dragon practically adopting the lonely young boy. It was one of her earlier stories and she'd be ashamed to show anyone, especially her friends - both because her writing was so terrible back then and because Dragon Knight Evangeline ended up marrying Dragon Knight Ryuenji.

As a student at Sephirot, a wizard academy in Magic World. She had made up her own cast of characters back when she was alone, but had recently worked in some new characters. Amelia, the young witch obsessed with gadgets from the human world, and Davide, the reckless young wizard who had inherited a mysterious magic staff from his father. She could admittedly have come up with better names for them, but she was proud of the interesting magic system she had came up with, even if talking with Emily had shown her it definitely wasn't accurate to how Magic World's spells worked.

As an adventurer, a warlock in Dungeon World, the Shadowmancer known as Dark Evangel. The dashing rogue she had based on Dave and the ever-curious apprentice mage resembling Emily had been in this one from the start, as it was one of her more recent stories, but she also wouldn't be bringing this one up to her friends - somehow without quite intending it she had written the characters in a love triangle focused on Evangel.

As a normal human living deep in the forests of Ancient World, a quiet life with an Amber Dragon Kantal as her buddy. The stories were pure fluff with no action, just her and her buddy having adventures meeting friendly animals or exploring the untamed wilderness.

She had spent too long thinking about what stories she'd feel comfortable telling Dave about, and he had taken her silence as an unwillingness to answer.

"Well, fun fact, the newspaper club are looking for writers. I just thought, hey, you read a lot, maybe you're better at writing than Karl." Dave thought for a second. "You know, Karl, in the year above us? Fun fact, he was the guy who was first in the school to get a Darkness Dragon World buddy. Cool guy, pretty good goalie, but his spelling is even worse than mine."

 

* * *

 

"So you want to write for the school paper?" asked Nina, staring at Eva with piercing violet eyes.

The newspaper club leader was a year older than Eva, a tall arabic girl with sharp features, her dark hair tied in a bun. She was dressed in a very formal shirt and tie, and never seemed to be without a cup of coffee in one hand.

Behind her a plump boy with half-lidded eyes and messy brown hair sat at a table, slumped forward in his chair to stare at a large cockroach (which appeared to be staring back at him). A core gadget resembling an oversized version of an old games console controller was on the table too, slightly to his side.

Nina took a sip of her coffee. "You know what? Show me what you can do." said the older girl. "Karl's buddy is great at getting information, but he's frankly complete garbage at getting anything useful out of it."

"Yeah, that's fair." said the chubby boy in a surprisingly deep voice. The roach sitting in front of him starting making frantic clicking noises, and he leaned in slightly to listen. The boy started writing down a list of rumors, presumably relayed to him by his tiny insect buddy.

"Turn that into something we can publish and you're in." she said.

 

* * *

 

An hour later Eva had sorted through some of the things Karl had written down, with him explaining exactly what his buddy had said to him each time she asked him to elaborate. The boy didn't seem at all concerned by her reputation and appearance, probably due to his buddy apparently being from Darkness Dragon World - as it turned out, his buddy was actually _many_ of the insects, who come together to form one Black Dragon G when needed. He chugged on a bottle of tar-flavoured soda - Eva quietly declined when he offered some.

"Oi! Roach boy, spooky girl! What have you got for me?" said Nina as she walked in, a new mug of coffee in her hands. She looked at Eva's writing - neat, evenly-spaced letters that went into great detail on theories about the happenings at Karras Academy, complete with references.

She took a sip of her coffee, and raised an eyebrow. "Eh? You really think she's dating _him?_ " She read some more. "And one of Trash's founding members is joining the Seven? Who are dropping their Seven Seas gimmick for that old Seven Deadly Sins one because Claude can't get his hands on Aqua World spells?" She picked up the paper Karl was writing on earlier, filled with the rumors and other assorted information his buddy had told him, almost not believing Eva had figured out anything useful from them.

"Yes." said Eva, with full confidence in her work, looking at the older girl from behind her hair. The rumors by themselves didn't seem verifiable or accurate, but some of them together implied some things that she had been able to prove with some quick research. Compared to piecing together entire decks from watching a handful of cards played in a recorded fight this was easy.

"It all fits." she added, her green eye staring back into purple ones.

Nina gave a slight shrug. "No kidding. You've done some real detective work here. Nice work, spooky girl! Go help yourself to some coffee!" she said, raising her own mug in a strange salute. Eva had always preferred tea but the gesture was nice.

Nina paused right before she was about to take a sip of her coffee, as if considering whether to praise Karl, who had not moved from his seated position the entire time Eva had been in the room. "Oh, and not too shabby either, roach boy." she said, mussing up his hair even more with her free hand.

"That's all I aim for." he said.

With Nina satisfied with her work (and the other club members not really paying her much attention), it looked like she had ended up as a member. It would be nice to have other people to read her writing, even if it wasn't the fiction she usually wrote.

Although she did notice that Karl had moved onto writing the astrology section and was blatantly just writing whatever he felt like for each entry.

 

* * *

 

Eva stood alone outside the lab, in a black dress her papa had sent her a couple of months ago. The letter he had sent with it said that if she ever felt like dressing differently it would probably be a good fit. Her papa's buddy, Slashknife Dragon, had actually become an accomplished tailor (useful for adjusting costumes on-set).

The dress was mostly black, like the sweater she had been wearing. But there were splashes of color - the flat collar was white, with rounded points, and was tied up with a blue ribbon (her favorite color when she was smaller, of course papa would remember). The long sleeves ended in white fold-over cuffs, although the buttons were black. On the hem of the skirt was sewn a subtle blue pattern, vaguely resembling a flame. There was a large frilly black bow on the back too, like the bows that were on the dress she used to wear so often at her old school. She felt a little overdressed, like she might draw too much attention, but if anyone would be fine with her dressing up for once it would be her two friends.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds to calm herself, and walked in. Dave was the first to see her.

"Eva!" he said, his eyes wide with amazement as his mouth opened in a huge smile. "That is... wow!"

He did his usual weird bouncing move around her a couple of times, looking at the dress from all angles. "Fun fact, that is a _look!_ " He stopped in front of her, grinning. "It's a really, well, _Eva_ way to dress!"

She nodded without changing her facial expression, internally happy that her good friend hadn't made fun of her for suddenly dressing so differently, even if she might only wear it this one time.

"Emily! Come take a look! Fun fact, Eva's a goth or something!" shouted Dave across the lab.

Emily walked through a door, saying something to her new buddy (Gorgas, a Dragowizard researcher from Magic World she had ended up in correspondence with). She turned to face Dave and Eva.

"What did you say -eep!" said Emily, jumping back through the door. She peeked around the doorframe at Eva, a deep blush on her face. After a few moments she stepped out, no longer as red in the face, her usual cheery self.

"Eva! That looks very... um, different!" said Emily, smiling. "...I like it." she added uncharacteristically quietly, after Eva stared at her for a few seconds.

Emily had been jumpy around her before, back during the days after they had first met. Eva didn't blame her - she was the _spooky girl_ , after all, and she did walk very quietly. But she thought Emily had grown used to her by now, and seeing her act skittish was strange. It was rather cute, though.

"Fun fact, I know what this calls for!" said Dave, pulling out his phone to take a picture of the three of them together. Eva had always just shook her head when he wanted to pose with her before, but today... today it was fine.

Minutes later Dave had set the background of his phone to the picture - Eva standing in the center in her new dress, expression blank. Dave on her left, a huge grin on his face as he held the phone out. Emily in her labcoat, still blushing a little, raising a hand in a peace sign.

At the newspaper club that day Nina just nodded in approval at her more formal dress - the older girl apparently appreciated anyone putting effort into their appearance. Karl might not actually have noticed Eva was there at all, let alone dressed completely differently. The other girl, the photographer with Tiny Professor Crocell as her buddy and who was on a team with the girls who might have had something to do with her papa's deck disappearing, gave her a nervous smile and thumbs-up - the most interaction she had ever had with Eva.

It was a good day.

Eva wrote back to her papa that more dresses like that would be nice. She made sure to thank Slashknife too.

 

* * *

 

Eva stood alone in her dorm room, holding a package. The last one that wasn't just a letter or some strange exotic tea from one of the worlds her papa had visited was a bundle of black dresses similar to that first one, which had quickly become her usual outfits. In that same package was a letter from her papa saying he was happy to hear she was feeling more comfortable at Karras. This package, on the other hand, was fairly small. Too large to just be a letter describing the strange other worlds he visited to find inspiration (and sets, and the cast) for his movies.

She opened it, and a deckbox fell out - not a core deck case, but a simple plastic box. There was also a folded letter inside the package. She picked it up, and began reading it.

 

* * *

 

Dear Evangeline,

In my travels in Horror World I met a monster named Hookhand Man Kardor. Don't let his appearance fool you, he became fast friends with our crew. I feel as if you might get along well.

Love,  
Your Papa,  
Jacob Friday  
(& Slashknife Dragon)

 

* * *

 

A shadow loomed over Eva from behind. She turned to face it - A tall muscular man wearing a hockey mask, with a hook instead of one hand, was standing there.

"IT'S ME!" said Kardor, raising his arms (both the real one and the one ending in a hook) above his head while he towered over Eva. Eva stared at him with her one visible eye, seemingly unfazed.

"Bwahaha! You really don't scare easy, do you?" said the masked slasher, his voice strangely distorted under his mask, suggesting that it was perhaps nearly as mangled as the stump of an arm his hook was attached to. He held out his real hand. "Hookhand Man Kardor! Your pa Jacob sent me!"

"I see." she deadpanned.

She stared at the monster in front of her, trying to figure out what she could about him. Strange voice, too strange to be that mask as many buddy monsters wore similar ones. Some kind of mechanical or surgical change to his throat, like the machinery on his hook-hand? Long and unkempt dark hair, stains on the apron he was wearing - blood?

"Tough crowd, huh." he said, tapping his hook near where his mouth would be under his mask, as if scratching his chin. "Like Jakey said in his letter, I'm one of the Slashers from Horror World."

"Slashers."

She stared up at him.

Kardor laughed, gesturing at Eva with his hook. "I'm a Jason-class slasher, which means I never stay dead for long."

"Soulguard?" she asked. There were other monster effects that made them tough to take off the field, but Soulguard was doubtlessly the most common. If he was to be her buddy, even temporarily, she needed to know exactly what kind of deck he had brought with him, and knowing his effects was a good first step towards that.

"Eh? You're full of questions. Your old man only wanted to know if I'd work for scale." he said. "I've got something called Haunt instead..."

 

* * *

 

Eva stood with Dave beside her. The junior buddy police officer sent to give her a core deck case was Dennis Primrose, Emily's brother. The boy was a couple of years older than Emily, his appearance handsome rather than her cuteness. Eva had just formed the core deck case into an iron lantern.

"A lantern?" said Dave. "Fun fact? Not what I was expecting."

"I suppose it is somewhat functional. If you really needed a light - during a powercut, maybe?" said Dennis, peering thoughtfully at the intricate ironwork decorating the lantern - a vine-like pattern, reminiscent of the creeping vines shown on Horror World's flag. "Though it is strange that the flame is blue. I really should look up what more than the basic set of core gadgets mean."

"Core gadgets mean something?" said Dave. Apparently this was a fact he hadn't heard before, and he was all-ears to learn about it. It hadn't Eva taken much time knowing Dave to realize he had trouble learning paragraphs upon paragraphs of history when reading from a book in class, but the second his father (or anyone else, for that matter) told him an amusing piece of trivia the bubbly boy memorized it in a flash. Clearly he was looking forward to Dennis telling him an interesting detail or two about core gadgets.

"They're a reflection of the buddyfighter who uses them, just as the buddy skill reflects the buddy." explained Dennis. "For instance, my sister's wand reflects her love of magic." He raised the buckler core gadget on his arm. "I like to think my buckler reflects my desire to protect those who need protecting."

Dennis laughed a little, as if just remembering a funny joke. "Of course, you can always change your core gadget if you like. There's a girl Emily knows who changed hers to a pair of headphones because normal ones would always get tangled up in her hair or broken."

"Fun fact, I think Eva's core gadget really suits her." said Dave cheerfully.

She turned to stare at the boy. Was it because it looked like something you'd find in a creepy haunted mansion? Or something that would be used by some bandit committing crimes in the night?

"It's... I'm not really great at science like Emily, but I know there's a reason blue flames are special." said Dave, with uncharacteristic shyness, as if struggling to find the words. "Fun fact, it's the kind of flame they use to cut through metal."

He rubbed the back of his head, and grinned. "What I'm saying is blue flames are quiet and calm and precise. And even if they're not the flames everyone thinks of first, when it comes down to it they can do all sorts of cool things!"

Dave...

Dennis looked thoughtful for a second, and nodded, smiling at the younger boy. "You know Dave, I think that might just be what it means."

He turned to Eva. "I'd offer to buddyfight you, as Horror World certainly does sound interesting. But I feel like I'd be imposing on you... Why don't you two have a buddyfight instead?" he said, with a smile as he left, Dalahast trotting along beside him.

 

* * *

 

Eva stood with her buddy in front of her, the Endless Razor in her hand. She had taken Dave's advice on the red contact lens, even though he was the person least likely to be intimidated by it. The tiny blonde girl called Frankensteiner stood giggling over on the left, Bloody Mary and Murder Crow were hiding in the soul of her Haunted Mansion and her buddy was front and center, having just destroyed an Armorknight Jet Fighter.

"Kardor, penetrate." she said. The 'Jason'-slasher and his power-nullifying effect weren't any more useful against Dave's usually-open center than any regular monster, but the sheer versatility of the deck, reminiscent more of the Secret Swords that Emily had given her than the Dragon World deck she was running before, had already started her thinking about possibilities.

She effectively only had the cards that Kardor had brought with him, but for the moment that was a deck nobody had seen. This could be a powerful advantage or a crippling weakness for her team - if anybody saw her full deck before more cards became available then there was the possibility of then figuring out exactly how to easily counter every single card she had. On the other hand, until that state was reached, nobody knew what the deck could actually do. It was definitely strange to have a deck in her possession that would be considered special even by other people.

"Ooga CHAKA!" said Kardor, striking at Dave with his hook.

"[Winner: Eva Friday]"

"Fun fact, that mirror girl spooked the hell out of me, but that was so cool!" said Dave, grinning.

She had just won with her new deck, her Horror World, her buddy. Eva burst into a wide grin. Dave looked surprised, and she realized why. She immediately put her hands over her mouth, and turned away.

"Fun fact, I've... never seen you smile before." said Dave.

"Sorry." said Eva, unable to meet his eyes. No, it was going to be just like before, when she decided never to show her smile again...

He gave a big grin of his own and a thumbs up. "Hey, no need to be sorry! Fun fact, nobody should ever be sorry to smile when they're happy!"

"I... don't want to." said Eva.

"Huh? Don't want to what?" said Dave, confused.

"I don't smile." said Eva. She hadn't, not for nearly two years now. Why now, why had she let her guard down?

"But I just saw..." started Dave. He shook his head.

"Fun fact, I don't mind if you don't want to smile." said Dave. "But I definitely want my friends to be happy. And whether you're smiling or not, if you're ever unhappy, I want to help." He corrected himself. "We'd want to help, I mean - Emily definitely would too."

She didn't reply. The sentiment was kind-of touching.

"Besides, fun fact, you could totally pull off the _yangire_ look if you really wanted to." He laughed a little. "I mean, you're cute but that smile would be pretty terrifying if someone had just met you and saw, like, red eyes."

 

* * *

 

Kardor held up his hand, and a blue flame appeared at each of Eva's shoulders - the buddy skill he granted her.

"Hitodama." she whispered. Ghost lights. Blue flames like her lantern, and the pattern on that skirt she had first worn with her dress.

"Eh?" The slasher looked confused for a moment, even with his full-face mask obscuring his expression, before realizing she meant the flames. "Will o' wisps, but who's counting." said Kardor.

Her buddy skill. Her buddy. Her deck. Not her papa's deck or Emily's one.

She knew it was childish of her, not letting even Emily look through the cards in the deck. The pink-haired girl was becoming a skilled deckbuilder who would only improve the card ratios in the deck, and if Eva asked her not to change anything she knew the sweet and kind girl would respect her wishes. If Eva had asked Emily not to tell anyone else what was in that deck, to keep the strengths and weaknesses of her unique cards a secret, she knew that the other girl, the girl who was becoming as close a friend to her as Dave, would never speak a word of it.

But deep down Eva still felt it was too special to her. The sign of the bond between her and her buddy, something nobody else had.

Maybe some day Eva would feel comfortable enough to let someone, even just Emily or Dave, look through her Horror World deck. It would certainly be nice to see Emily's pretty sapphire-blue eyes light up behind her glasses, as they always did when she got to see new cards. But for now she'd keep using the deck that Kardor had given her.

 

* * *

 

"Alright, see you later!" said Dave, leaving Eva to her book. He waved cheerfully, and led a boy away - a boy with short brown hair and hazel eyes, wearing a dark-red hoodie. Eva was sure she had seen him before somewhere.

Maybe she'd go visit Emily and see if she knew what Dave was up to.

 

* * *

 

"Oi, roach boy." said Nina. "What's he on about now?"

Karl's insect buddy (or, at least, the part of him in the club room) was frantically clicking away. Eva had spent enough time working with the little bug in the background that she picked up some of it.

BREAKING... NEWS... TRASH... FIGHT... BOY... DANGER WORLD...

Breaking news about Team Trash fighting a boy, with something about Danger World being the reason. Eva stood up before Karl had even finished writing it down. She knew she had to act fast or she might regret this forever.

"I must go." she said. Nina looked surprised by Eva's urgency, and nodded.

 

* * *

 

It could only be Timo. The boy Dave had dragged to meet Emily and herself last week. The boy who had challenged every Danger World user he could in his resolve to become strong enough to reunite with his sister. The boy who had become Dave's friend in such a short amount of time.

She had to admit she was a little jealous of Timo - she had taken weeks to open up even a little to the lively boy, and it had been months before she was as comfortable around Emily. Timo made a much better friend than her to the pair...

Surely enough, Eva saw Timo standing on the fight stage, getting ready to battle the older boy. She had heard from Black Dragon G that he was another Horror World user, with Transform cards called Monster Mash. Timo's deck had many cards that wouldn't help here. Most of his Secret Swords would be dead draws, and even one could spell doom for him if drawn in place of a needed card. And when Team Trash played, they played for keeps - they were known for demanding that losing opponents join their team.

Eva reached into a pocket, closing her hand around the deckbox. It was the one her papa had sent Kardor's deck in, but with her core deck case for that she had put her old Katana World deck in it. A deck with similar cards to Timo's, but with a few differences. Like a different set of Secret Swords, more tailored to spot-removal than damage. She kept it in her pocket as a lucky charm, a reminder of the first two friends she had had in a long time. She didn't want to take cards out of it, to remove part of the gift her friends had so freely given. But...

If she didn't give those cards, Timo would surely lose. And even if she was a little jealous of him for being able to talk more, for being able to keep up with Dave's trivia or Emily's scientific theories, he was their friend. In time, maybe he'd be her friend too. She closed her eyes for a moment, summoning up the resolve for what she needed to do.

She floated down to the fight stage, beside Timo. She reached out to pull on his sleeve.

 

* * *

 

"It was the first thing my friends ever gave me." said Eva, as Emily looked at the Katana World deck she had first built nearly a year ago, that neither of them had changed since Eva met her buddy. She had never gotten her papa's Dragon World deck back, but somehow this deck, the one Dave had given her, the one Emily had built, had come to be just as important to her. "It felt right to keep it close."

"That's so... Oh, come here!" said Emily, hugging the quiet girl. Eva was taken aback. Surely Emily would come to her senses any second and stop hugging the weird, spooky girl who nobody really liked, right? But until then... Emily was so soft, and so warm. It was nice to be this close to her, even for a moment.

 

* * *

 

Eva stood on the rooftop as the sun set, facing the three members of Team Hotline. The girl in a horned skull mask opposite her, wearing an expensive-looking two-piece suit and red tie, stared at Eva through the red and blue lenses set into the eyeholes of her mask. Her Red Hand, a core gadget floating just off her left shoulder that resembled an entire prosthetic arm with the core at the elbow joint, currently held a mug of coffee in its hand. Her two real hands were free.

Behind skull-mask were her two teammates, snapping their fingers continually to some unheard rhythm.

On skull-mask's left, a boy with an eerily detailed insectoid mask and a much scruffier suit, a ripped shoulder crudely stitched back together. He was hunched over a little, his games console controller core gadget hanging from his belt.

On her right, a girl with a black dragon mask, four curved horns jutting out. She wore a paint-stained artist's smock and a skirt. The hand that wasn't currently snapping fingers was holding her core gadget - it looked like an old-style tape recorder.

"We live and die by our aesthetic, Eva." said Nina, from behind the skull mask.

"We're not very good at this game." said Karl, insect-mask, continuing to snap his fingers.

Dragon mask held up her tape recorder, pressing the play button. "Thank you for being our test audience." said a digitized female voice from it, the kind still found in automated phone systems.

"Juanita's Phantom Blood deck was just too fast for you to stop." said Nina. "But you did beat me and Karl, so let's chalk it up as your win. Nice work, _spooky girl_."

She pulled off the skull-mask, patterned after her buddy (Death Ruler Galkheight). The Red Hand brought her mug of coffee to her mouth, and she took a sip.

"You've been really handy in digging up info on the teams we couldn't get to, and you helped with our dress rehearsal." said Nina. "These masks are _stuffy_ but that's the price we pay for looking so good."

Eva nodded. It was a strange piece of business for Nina to have called her for. The journalism club had two Hotline members, though the team and club were technically separate. Their art club friend/teammate, Juanita, had apparently made new masks for the team to wear at this year's tournament and they seemed to be under the impression Eva was a good person to buddyfight against while wearing them to get a feel for the new outfits.

Eva didn't mind trying to help them. She wasn't actually particularly fashion-conscious herself, though. Her dresses had been provided by her papa's buddy, and though she very much admired their appearance Eva had little idea of how to put together similar outfits herself. Maybe it was because she hadn't really had any friends to discuss fashion with for the last few years - none at all in the two and a half years before meeting Emily, who herself usually just threw on a labcoat over pink or purple clothes. While Eva certainly found her friend very pretty she wasn't a good source for fashion advice. Ironically enough Nina was the most fashionable person that Eva interacted with.

Still, even aside from fashion-related misconceptions, the strange trio had promised to send her any further information they picked up about the other teams competing in the tournament. Although since Eva herself had compiled most of that information there wasn't much more they could offer beyond anything Black Dragon G picked up in the next week. Even if it felt a little like this was a pretext for collecting information about the still-mysterious Horror World she had somewhat enjoyed fighting against three very unusual decks. Team Hotline weren't her friends, but they certainly had never been enemies.

Eva's phone buzzed. She checked the message sender - Dave. He hadn't been at school yesterday, and Eva had been concerned for him.

Her phone buzzed again. An excited message from Emily saying she had to see Sphinxy's new form. Dave's buddy had evolved?

"Oi, spooky girl." said Nina. "If you're that busy with your phone you can go leave for the day. We'll get those profiles back to you next time." She took another sip of her coffee.

"Hot off the presses." said Karl. He had opened a bottle of his salmiakkikola and was trying (unsuccessfully) to emulate Nina's coffee drinking by chugging it through his mask.

 

* * *

 

It was after school, but Emily had insisted on dragging Dave and the newly-evolved Sphinxy "A" to the labs, babbling excitedly about how she'd get to see exactly how Sphinxy had changed.

"Fun fact, there's no stopping her when she gets like this." said Dave with a shrug. The little armorknight didn't seem too enthusiastic about being stuck in the lab all day either.

So it looked like my friends were busy now. Well, except Eva. She didn't talk as much as my other friends, but it was nice enough to just read books beside a friend sometimes.

"Hey, uh, Eva? Want to hang out?" I said. "We could go to the library, or maybe have a buddyfight?"

 

* * *

 

"[Winner: Eva Friday.]"

"That's one tricky deck." I said. "No wonder Emily keeps going on about wanting to tinker with it."

"Timo." said Eva. "I want to ask if you agree with something."

What was this about? "Uh, go ahead." I said.

"I..." she began. She hesitated for a moment, then pulled her hair aside to look at me with both eyes before continuing. "I think I should tell Emily."

I wasn't entirely certain what she meant by that, but it felt awkward to ask. I thought about my response for a few moments. "Eva, I'm sure she'd be fine with anything you told her."

That seemed enough for her - She just nodded in response. We stood in silence for a while before my buddy popped out of my deck. We turned to the mischievous Skull Warrior.

"Yo, big guy, Kardor, KD, my man. You got a sec?" said Tsuki.

"What is it?" said Kardor, emerging from Eva's deck.

"That chain-hook-thing of yours, you ever use it to grab stuff from across the room?"

"Eh, too dangerous to play around with for that." said Kardor with a shrug, his face unreadable behind his hockey mask. "Don't want to set a bad example for my kid."

"You call your buddy your 'kid'?" asked Tsuki, surprise evident in her voice.

Kardor shook his head. "No, I meant Bloody Mary." He fished a wallet out of a pocket on his bloodstained apron, and showed something in it to my buddy. A photograph? "I've got a wife and three kids, but I only brought Frankie and Mary with me."

Tsuki laughed. "KD, I'll level with you. I didn't think you were the type."

I didn't think so either. It was weird to think the tiny surgeon girl and the girl in the mirror were actually related to the hulking brute. I guess monsters have families too - Tsuki had mentioned her father, but since she had also mentioned him cutting her down with a sword (repeatedly) I had just assumed she was goofing around.

"C'mon KD, your other kid is already sawing monsters open and waving a powerdrill around. It's not like that's going to get any worse. You really don't use it for anything like that? Like you want the remote, or a beer, but it's out of reach?"

Kardor let out a loud laugh. "I would, but this thing is _stupid_ strong." he said, holding the hook up and looking at it through one of his eyeholes. "Grabbing your beer? No. Crushing the can? Yes."

"Oh really." Tsuki said with a grin. "Show us."

"Don't buddy monsters have their powers reduced when they're on Earth?" I asked.

"S'yeah, but that just means dragons can't toss around cars and wizards can't turn buildings to salt." She flicked out her wrists, kunai appearing between each of her fingers. "I can still flash out knives like it's going out of style, so I bet big guy's harpoon-hand works."

Kardor spent the next ten minutes or so accidentally knocking over soda cans with his hook, after completely obliterating one with his first attempt and never quite being able to duplicate it. Tsuki gleefully leapt forward to place more for him to shoot at each time, and he did eventually manage to get his hook lined up perfectly to reel in an unopened can of cola. He raised it as if to toast Tsukiusagi and opened the can, which promptly shot fizz all over his hockey mask. He burst out laughing again, with Tsuki and myself joining in. Eva just nodded silently.

 

* * *

 

Eva thought about how she was going to tell Emily. Eva wasn't good with saying her feelings out loud, so maybe she'd write them in a letter. Yes, a love letter. That sounded good.

She watched her three newest friends laughing together on the rooftop, as soda ran down Kardor's mask. She wasn't smiling, but she was happy. And that's all that mattered.


	11. Strange Charm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily finds a love letter in her locker, but it quickly becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. Who is the little orange robot that put it there anyway?

"Oh Recon, what's in store for us today?"

A single word appeared - "BEAUTY".

 

* * *

 

"Here." I said, holding out a lunchbox for Emily.

The four of us - Emily, Dave, Eva and myself - were hanging around in the labs before school. Sphinxy had somehow fallen asleep in the few minutes since we had got here, sprawled out on a worktop. I guess evolving and changing his color scheme hadn't changed him entirely. Dave was prodding the armorknight with a finger, looking almost thoughtful about whether he should wake his buddy. Eva was watching him.

"Hmm?" said Emily, as she was tying her hair back. She was already in her labcoat and goggles. "What's this about?"

"I, uh, promised I'd make you a nice lunch if you fixed up my deck for me?" I said.

"Oh gosh, I totally forgot!" she said with a smile, clapping her hands together. "Thanks! Um, truth be told, I forgot to bring my own lunch anyway, so that's really helped me out."

I laughed. She really had forgotten already? I guess she did spend half of yesterday studying Armorknight Sphinx "A", whatever that entailed.

"Hey, don't worry about it." I said. "I hope you like it, it's a sushi rice bento. Uh, one of those Japanese lunches?"

She opened the box, and practically squealed in delight. "They're shaped like little pandas! That's adorable!" She smiled at me. "Did you know that's my favorite animal?"

Dave was admiring my lunchmaking handiwork from over Emily's shoulder, nodding in approval. "Fun fact, she used to have these cute _kigurumi_ pyjamas that made her look like a panda. A hood with the ears and everything."

"Dave!" she said, sounding a little embarrassed as she punched him playfully on the shoulder. "I was eight!"

Dave grinned. He leaned in towards me, and said in a loud stage-whisper, "Fun fact, I had dragon ones."

"Anyway, it was just a lucky coincidence." I said. "Uh, I just thought it'd look nice, and I still try to cook whenever I can."

Even if making tiny pandas out of rice wasn't quite the kind of 'real' cooking my dad would approve of, it was still fun to do. I wasn't too bad at making food look presentable, though I didn't really focus on that unless I was making something nice for mom.

"So, uh, guys?" I said, deciding to bring up another topic while we were all here. "We've got until the end of next week to register our team for the tournament, and we still need a name."

"Team Certain Success, go!" said Dave, smiling as he raised a fist above his head.

"No." said Eva flatly.

"Aw, why not?" said Dave, fake-pouting at Eva.

"The name is cursed." she said, with an eerily intense gaze at him. Was that a joke? I laughed anyway, and she nodded.

"Since you want to fight your sister, how about Team Down With Sis?" suggested Dave. "We could drive in on a bus core gadget, and..."

I laughed. "What? No, that's ridiculous!"

Dave only grinned in response, and I shook my head. "Well, we've still got some time to think of one." I said.

Eva's phone buzzed in her pocket, and she took it out to glance at the message.

Dave laughed. "Don't tell me, you just got a text about a _hot tip_ from Team Hotline."

"They're investigating The Seven today." she said. "They want my help."

Eva pulled her hair out of her eyes. "Emily." she said. "Please talk to me later."

"Huh?" said Emily. "About what?"

"You will understand." said Eva. She nodded to us, and walked out of the room.

 

* * *

 

I was talking to Dave after class, up on the rooftop, when Emily ran in from the stairway. She stopped in front of me, and started talking before we could greet her.

"I'm sorry, Timo!" she said, blushing bright red. She shoved a partially-crumpled letter into my hands. "I can't accept... I like girls, okay?"

She then ran out.

"Uh... What was that all about?" I asked. Dave shrugged. I unfolded the letter. "Huh."

A love letter in fancy, looping handwriting. The envelope it must have been in before had "Primrose" on it in the same writing, and the letter itself was unsigned.

"Okay, something weird's going on here."

 

* * *

 

Dave had managed to get Emily to answer her phone, and convinced her to come back to talk to us.

"W-well, I opened my locker when I was about to change out of my labcoat, and this letter fell out." she said. "I opened it, and... Well, you saw it."

I noticed that she hadn’t actually changed out of her labcoat and goggles in the confusion.

"I thought it was from you because it's not signed, and you gave me that cute lunch earlier..." she said, still a little red in the face. "I mean, I thought you must have asked Dave about the panda thing. Then I kind of thought you were flirting with me?"

"Uh, that was just because I thought I owed you for your deckbuilding." I said. "Seriously, I didn't know they were your favorite animal. Sorry if that's what it looked like."

"Did you see anyone who could have left it?" I asked. "Or, y'know, anything weird at all?"

'Weird' being a relative term, as I knew the science department was headed by a crowned human-shaped owl, and even Emily's own buddy monster was a dragowizard.

"I did see a monster I haven't seen before." she said thoughtfully. "I think it was a little orange robot? It just rolled along the ground on a wheel?"

Dave had been reading the letter himself. "Fun fact, I think it's another team messing with us."

Emily looked surprised. "But who'd do something like that?"

Dave shrugged. "The Warlords aren't exactly our biggest fans. But fun fact, this isn't their style." He started raising fingers on one hand as he named teams. "Catwalk all split up since last year and I don't know much about their new Meow Formation. The Seven try to stay on good terms with everyone. Hotline definitely _could_ do it but wouldn't."

I tried to think of the other teams I knew about. "Uh, there are a lot of Team Trash players? Could it be one of them?"

"Dunno." said Dave. "Handwriting looks too girly, and I think most of them are guys?"

"The handwriting... wait, let me look at that again." I said, glancing at the letter. "Now that you mention it, that's some _really_ fancy handwriting."

"Huh? Well yeah." said Emily, calming down. "That's... that's why I thought it was you? I mean it talks about being teammates, and it's not Dave's because his handwriting's terrible."

"Fun fact, I can't really dispute that." said Dave. "Plus if I liked Emily that way I kind of would have told her years ago." he added with a shrug.

"And it's not Eva's because hers is so neat and cute, like h..." Emily shook her head, cutting herself off. "Anyway, I've never seen your handwriting. You just type your homework when we're studying together."

"It's, uh, definitely not this fancy." I said. "Look, no offence. I mean, I like you as a friend, but I don't really think of you like that?"

Emily really was cute, in her weird and quirky way. There wasn't anyone else I could really talk to about some things, since while Eva had a closer taste in books to me she didn't really voice many opinions about them. Emily, on the other hand, was always happy to tell me exactly what she thought of anything she had watched or read.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Timo, you're a good friend too. I'm glad you don't think of me that way. It would have been awkward if you did, because... you know..." She shook her head. "Anyway, I'm going to take this letter to Pat. A buddycop should be able to help us here." said Emily, stuffing the letter into one of her labcoat's pockets again.

"Uh, why not your brother?" I asked. Dennis was the only other Buddy Police member I had met at the school, and he seemed pretty good at his job.

"I can't ask him about this!" she said, waving her hands frantically in front of herself while she shook her head. "It'd be too embarassing!"

She shook her head. "Anyway, I'm off to look for him." she said.

"We'll go look for him too." said Dave. "Fun fact, the academy's pretty big, but it's hard to miss the only guy dressed as a cowboy in the school."

"Uh, yeah." I said. A lot of the students here had weird outfits, but it was hard to top dressing as an old west gunslinger at all times. "We'll text you if we find him first, okay?"

Emily nodded, and took off on her broomstick-like buddy skill.

"Hey, uh, Tsuki?" I said. She emerged from my deck as I spoke. "You're from Katana World, right? Do you have some, uh, ninjutsu art that'll help us find him?"

"S'yeah, I'll get right on that, TZ." she said, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Because everyone in Katana World is a qualified graduate from ninja school, and nobody's ever dropped out before becoming a _Genin_."

"Okay, sorry." I said. "I just thought, y'know, with all the backflips and knives..."

She shrugged. "There were only about two classes I didn't flunk out of - Sweet Flips and Knife Tricks." She twirled a kunai on one finger. "That's my skill set. Don't ask me to _henshin_ or switch with a log or whatever."

"Don't forget leaping directly into attacks." said Dave. "That's the move you do most."

"Totally covered under Sweet Flips, DV." she said, grinning. "But yeah, my height-changing thing is a Skull Warrior power, not ninjutsu."

I realized that there _was_ something she could help me with. "Hey, Tsuki. Could you let me use your buddy skill?"

 

* * *

 

"Fun fact, we could call that a _bunny_ skill!"

"S'yeah, like I haven't heard _that_ one."

It turned out the buddy skill Tsuki granted me looked like oversized white rabbit feet laid over my actual shoes.

"Huh. That is pretty weird." I said, lifting my feet to look at the giant glowing white paws around them.

"Fun fact, buddy skills come from your buddy, and the only way to change them is to get a new buddy." said Dave, kicking off the ground and switching on his own buddy skill. "Sphinxy's evolved form still has these cool question-marks!"

"So you're stuck with giant bunny feet whether you like it or not, TZ!" said my buddy.

I laughed. "Yeah, okay, they look ridiculous. But if I can fly on them anyway it's fine."

I didn't exactly know how to fly, though. I was starting to feel a little worried about jumping up, getting high enough into the air for a fall to be dangerous and then just screwing it up somehow. For a few moments I just kind of tried to _lift_ my head to take off, probably making my giant rabbit feet look even sillier.

Dave and Tsuki just laughed at that. Then, Dave held out a hand downwards towards me. "Come on, just kick off the ground, I'll give you a boost up if you need it. Fun fact, even Emily got the hang of her buddy skill pretty quick, and yours doesn't look any trickier than hers."

Emily's buddy skill was a broomstick, and I did remember seeing her readjust her stance to steer it. It didn't look as straightforward as Dave or Eva's ones, which just seemed to lift them by the shoulders. I guess maybe I'd need to lift my feet to change direction once I actually got airborne.

"S'yeah TZ, and I'll catch you if you fall. It's like one of those trust exercises." said Tsuki, grinning.

"Yeah yeah, okay." I said, smiling at my buddy's joke. Between the two of them I should be fine. I crouched down, and leapt upwards, grabbing onto Dave's arm. It felt like I was going to fall over forwards and smash face-first into the ground, so I was glad for his help.

"Okay, now just move your feet until you level out, I guess?" he said. Of course, he had only ever had Sphinxy's buddy skill, which worked more like helicopter rotors, so he was probably just guessing how it worked.

After a few moments I felt safe enough to let go of his arm. I saw Tsuki give a thumbs up from the ground, which I returned, and she went back into her card.

"Huh, wow! I'm flying!" I said. I smiled. "Yeah, this is actually pretty cool."

Dave grinned. "You call that flying? Fun fact, you can go pretty fast with a buddy skill!" He flew in a circle around me as if to demonstrate, and I laughed.

We spent the next twenty minutes or so just zooming around in the air, myself for the first time and Dave just looping around in the air since he had been flying basically every day for a lot longer. It was pretty exhilarating seeing the school grounds from high up in the air. I could see my apartment building down in Academy City from here!

We stopped to grin at each other in the air, and set down on the roof of a building that Dave gestured to. We probably wasted more time than if we had just walked where we were going. I did feel a little guilty about not helping Emily right away.

"Fun fact, I just got a text from Emily. She said that Pat recognized the handwriting right away, and it's from a calligraphy club member." he said. "But fun fact, it's also because she's his _teammate_."

"Huh." I said. "One of the Shining Knights? So she's with the buddy police too?" I had met Dennis and Pat, who were both buddy police officers in training.

"I don't think so?" said Dave. "Fun fact, they started out as just a club of Legend World players, and it just turned out having a bunch of people who admire knights somehow led to them getting a lot of people who wanted to join the buddy police."

"Oh, right, Emily's moms were on that team." I said. "And yeah, they're not buddycops. I guess that's why you know about that team."

"Fun fact, I challenged one of her moms to a buddyfight last year, a couple of days after I met Sphinxy." He smiled at the memory. "Penny Primrose's valkyrie deck _took me apart_. I mean, they're both world-class players."

I laughed. Even Dave's dad was a pretty strong opponent, but he was never a professional. The Primroses had been world tag-fighting champions. I couldn't even imagine what it was like to fight someone on that level of skill.

"So we're looking for a girl called Cassie Gemini." said Dave, as he led the way. I guess he knew the layout of the school a lot better than I did, as I had no idea where he was headed. "Fun fact, she's usually hanging out in the rooms for one of the clubs she's in - fortunetelling and calligraphy. Emily and Pat are off to check the calligraphy club first so we might as well go on ahead."

"Huh, guess that explains the handwriting." I said . "I didn't know we had a fortunetelling club, though."

Dave pushed a door open, and we looked inside.

"Oh, you must be Dave and Timo." said a girl sitting at a table in the room. So this was the girl we were looking for.

Cassie was a bespectacled girl with curly dark-green hair and green eyes of a lighter shade. She was fairly tall considering she was only a year older than us, though not nearly as tall as my sister who would tower over me. She was also slender enough that she looked a little frail, as if she would drift away in anything more than a light breeze. She was wearing a long, sleeveless cream-white top that hung off one shoulder, the spiral brooch holding it in place making it look weirdly like a toga, with a short light-green t-shirt underneath. She had a long purple scarf (with white polkadots) wrapped around her neck. She wore a pair of silver hoop earrings, and a similarly-colored bracelet around her left wrist - even the frames of her glasses were silver.

A crystal ball sat on the table in front of her, with a core set in the base it was mounted on. Beside her core gadget was a kettle filled with freshly boiled water, and three cups with tea leaves in them - one on her side of the table, two at the side of the room we had entered from.

"You're right on time." she said with a slight smile towards us. "Exactly as we were fated to meet. I'm Cassandra Gemini, but you can call me Cassie."

She closed her eyes, tilting her head slightly to one side and steepling her fingers. "Tea?" she asked.

 

* * *

 

Cassie's buddy, a squat roughly-spherical orange-and-white robot balanced on a single wheel, poured the water into our teacups. It did this with one of its two somewhat-spindly arms, grasping the kettle with the three fingers jutting out from the orange orb at the end of it. The entire time it had an angry emoticon-like face displayed in white on a gold-framed blue monitor mounted on the front of it. There were similarly gold spikes sticking up from its shoulder joints.

"So what, your buddy's a robot butler from the future?" asked Dave.

Her buddy used its arms to push itself off the ground, settling in the seat next to her. It gazed at Dave with its angry-face monitor. I realized it hadn't poured a drink for itself, presumably because it had no actual mouth.

"Hey, no need to be like that." said Dave.

"So, what, you predicted we'd be here? Or did your buddy say we were coming?" I asked.

"Oh, my buddy doesn't give me nearly that much information." said Cassie. "But even normal fortunetelling can tell me a lot." She looked at Dave. "For example, Dave. You have many conflicting feelings about your choice of World and deck that you've only recently truly came to terms with."

Dave grinned. "Fun fact, that's just cold-reading. You're saying general things to try and get a reaction, and then you follow up on whatever that reaction is."

"Timo, when you were much younger, you would ask for a pet rabbit every christmas." said Cassie, turning to face me. "But a few years ago you gave up on the idea."

"Wait, how did you know that?" I asked, actually somewhat surprised. I hadn't told any of my friends about that, and Nat would _definitely_ never tell anyone, even now.

I heard muffled laughter coming from Tsuki's card. Great, she'd never let me live that down. At least she had just found it funny instead of asking anything about it.

Cassie winked, and put a finger to her lips. She then pointed at the angry-looking robot with two fingers of that same hand. "My buddy, Dragonarms Reconnaissance, is from a future so far ahead of ours that our modern lives would be the kind of ancient history taught in school."

The emoticon on its face was replaced by a single word - "TRUTH."

"Of course, if it told me everything that was fated to happen then it could destroy cause and effect as we know it." said Cassie, cheerfully discussing her buddy's apparent ability to unmake the universe. "So unless something world-ending is going on it will only ever show me six words, and I have to interpret them."

The robotic buddy tilted forwards. "UP. DOWN. TRUTH. BEAUTY. STRANGE. CHARM." scrolled past in place of its 'face', looping continually as Cassie spoke. Huh, what a weird selection of words.

"Fun fact, there are a lot of Star Dragon World monsters that want to be buddy monsters in our world, but because we're so badly desynced in time the Future Card Office either scrubs most of their memories or locks them out of giving away future knowledge that's too dangerous." said Dave. "So Star Dragon World monsters have to clear their trips _way_ ahead of time."

"TRUTH." read the screen on the Dragonarms.

Dave shrugged, and continued. "It's a real headache for the Card Office... well, the present version of it. You know, dealing with red tape that sort-of doesn't exist yet."

"Those six words aren't always enough, but with traditional fortunetelling they tell me all I need to know to live happily." she said, and took a sip of her tea. "Tarot cards, crystal balls, tea leaves. All are much more helpful with my buddy."

She smiled at the Dragonarms. The screen now read "CHARM."

"Uh, so that's why you care so much about horoscopes and astrology? Because the future's fixed?" I said. "I mean, I saw that broadcast of Yamigedo's ruined future. I know we've avoided _that_."

Cassie smiled, as if happy that I was asking about her philosophy. "It is and it isn't." She held out a hand towards me, as if wanting my opinion on something. "Timo Zaitsev, do you believe in time travel?"

I blinked. Of course I did. Considering someone else in this very room it'd be stupid not to. "Do you mean, uh, monsters coming back from Star Dragon World? Because it's the future of Dragon World?"

She shook her head. "Oh, of course you'd think that. It's a common misconception. But truly moving backwards in time is _impossible_. Do you understand?"

"Uh, no?" How could she not believe time travel worked? It's literally how her buddy got here.

She took her phone out of her pocket. She showed me the background of it - it was a picture of herself and her teammates, Dennis and Pat, standing in front of the statue of the wealthy philanthropist who founded Karras (and his dragon buddy). From the looks of the trees visible in the background the photo was taken very recently, maybe a month ago.

"Can you tell me what's strange about this photo?" she asked.

"Uh, can't say I notice anything." I said. "I mean, it's just your team and a statue."

"Fun fact!", Dave chimed in cheerfully. "It's a tradition for teams to meet beside the founder's statue after signing up for tournaments, for luck! It used to just be for Dragon World users but it became kind of a big thing a few years back when..."

Cassie raised a hand to silence him, shaking her head. She was still smiling. "No no, it isn't because there was no tournament at that time. We were there to celebrate my new deck being finished. Recon took the picture, if you're wondering." she clarified. I briefly wondered if the reconnaissance dragonarms had used some futuristic onboard camera or just held Cassie's phone in its oddly flimsy-looking arms.

"Oh right, you're the deckbuilder for the Shining Knights." I said. "Uh, I guess I've already seen your work with Dennis' hero deck, but I think Emily was building a new deck for him?"

She nodded. "I did build a deck for Dennis, and one for Pat." she said. "But I didn't build my own deck. At least not by myself."

"...so?" said Dave, confused. There were a lot of deckbuilders at Karras. Not every buddyfighter built their own deck, and even the ones who did would sometimes ask for help from a specialist. A deckbuilder getting someone else to help build their own deck was odd, but I could see it happening.

"Look more closely at the picture." she insisted.

I looked, wondering what she could possibly be getting at. Dennis had a hand raised. Cassie was giving a peace sign. Pat was pushing up the brim of his stetson hat with his core gadget gun, a grin on his face.

"I don't think it's anything. Unless, uh..." I said, noticing something odd about where the three of them were standing.

"Go on." encouraged Cassie.

"You're all standing too far to one side. As if there's meant to be a fourth person?" I suggested. If Recon really was some kind of futuristic spybot then lining up a camera shot in such a weird way would definitely be something to note.

Cassie nodded at me, smiling. "There you go! Well done!"

"Fun fact, I know the Shining Knights had a fourth fighter last year. Christina, I think?" said Dave. "Blue Sky Knights fighter, wants to be a doctor."

"Yes, she's the one who asked me to join." said Cassie. "But what if I told you that we once had a _fifth_ fighter, and now we have never met her?"

"You, uh, do you mean someone left your team?" I asked. If so that was some really strange phrasing from Cassie.

She shook her head. "She was never on my team. But last time, she was." The strange girl took a sip of her tea. "She did _something unexpected_ and changed her destiny."

Recon briefly flashed "STRANGE." on-screen. Then "UP." Then it returned to its default facial expression.

"She did something that doesn't seem possible any more, meaning that in this cycle of time she never came to Karras at all." she said, shaking her head slightly. "But I think she's happier where she is now, wherever that is." said Cassie dreamily, a finger to the side of her lips.

A word scrolled by on Recon's screen. "TRUTH."

We sat in silence for a minute or so - The two of us baffled by her statements, and Cassie content to sip on her tea.

"Come to think of it Emily must have seen that fight, but she didn't know about Johnny's deck when we saw it just a few weeks back." said Dave thoughtfully. "Fun fact, his World End cut her down by nearly 20 life. Really memorable match."

I realized that even I had seen that match. Dennis had fought Nat in an earlier round of that same tournament, and I didn’t recognize him when I actually spoke to him because this time around he wasn’t dressed up in a full suit of plate mail. Which, to be fair, was absolutely an easy mistake to make.

"You see?" said Cassie, steepling her fingers. "There's more and more evidence that this isn't the same timeline Recon originally travelled to. Which is why it knows about her and only I've noticed she's meant to be here. All we're seeing are remnants of an old timeline. They're like data deleted from a computer but not yet overwritten, or a deck where you've changed all but one card." She tilted her head a little. "Some events from old timelines are fated to happen in every cycle, and those events are what fortunetelling relies on."

I had a feeling that Emily had literally just forgotten some of what was in Johnny's deck as writing it down in the excitement of a final round would be tricky. She did carry a notebook with her everywhere as even though she was exceptionally smart (I couldn't keep up with her on most scientific subjects) I knew she was sometimes very absentminded.

I was unsure if Cassie sincerely believed her strange talk about avoiding paradoxes and 'cycles of time' or if she was trying to trick us in some way. Then again, if this was a con she was an incredibly good actress.

"Wait, so you're saying Star Dragon World isn't actually the future?" I asked.

"Oh, it's _a_ future, but it's not _our_ future." replied Cassie. "You can move in time _relative_ to where you are, but any time travel is always _forwards_. Trying to move back just takes you into the next cycle of time."

"Fun fact, I don't get this at all." said Dave, scratching his head. "Emily knows a lot more about quantum physics and all that."

"Think of time like a waterfall." started Cassie, with a smile. Then she looked thoughtful for a moment. "No, imagine four balls on the edge of a cliff. Oh, wait..." She turned to her buddy who just gave a strange elongated shrug with its mechanical limbs. "This was so much easier to explain to Tess. At least she understood the San Dimas Time theory right away."

Her buddy flashed the word "CHARM." on screen. She seemed to take that as a cue to change subject.

"Anyway, the one who came up with the idea for my deck was..." she said. She shook her head, looking a little sad. "My dear sweet best friend. But nobody remembers her. I can't even remember her name or face. Because in the timeline we live in now, we have never met. All we can do is look back through the endless cycles of time, and know that someone important is missing from this one."

"But it's okay!" she said, smiling again. "I've got other wonderful friends, like Pat and Dennis and Tess. And my horoscope this morning told me 'Today is a good day to confess to a teammate', so I did."

"What." said Dave flatly.

 

* * *

 

"Uh, do you mean you were going to confess to a teammate, and you were waiting for your horoscope to say it's a good day for it?" I asked.

"Oh no, I wasn't going to confess to him at all." she said, waving a hand towards me. "But then fate said it would be a good idea."

"Wait, so that letter was for...?" asked Dave, again confused.

"Dennis?" I suggested. "It, uh, ended up in Emily's locker?"

"Oh?" said Cassie, turning to look at her buddy.

"STRANGE.", it replied.

"I did ask you to put the letter in the locker marked Primrose." She put a finger to the corner of her lips. "But if it was his sister they _would_ have the same name on the locker..."

Her buddy tilted forwards, as if hanging its head in shame. "DOWN."

"There's no sense being upset, Recon. This, too, must be fate." she said, patting the top of her buddy with one hand.

"So, uh, why Dennis?" I asked.

"Well, my fortune told me to confess to a teammate, and I know Pat isn't interested, so it had to be Dennis." she said with a smile.

"You can't say that!" said Emily, walking into the room, still in her labcoat and goggles. Pat followed her, but stopped to lean against the doorframe. "You can't just confess to someone when you're not in love with them!"

"Love isn't... you don't just decide you're in love because that's what your horoscope says!" she said, raising her hands up in fists just below her mouth, in a really cute pose. "It takes time!"

"Oh?" said Cassie, tilting her head. Her buddy tilted to the side as well.

"Like knowing that they're one of your closest friends, and they'll always there by your side if you need them." said Emily. "Or being able to tell what they're thinking, even when they barely speak a word."

Emily adjusted her goggles with one hand, and continued. "Or when she tells a joke, but she's so calm and cool that I don't get it right away, and when I start laughing she just nods."

"Or when she's wearing a new dress that's so cute that I can barely look at her without wanting to hug her, and I just have to tell her she looks so pretty!" she said, clasping her hands together, her eyes practically sparkling.

"Oh?" said Cassie, a sly smile on her face. "It sounds like you're talking about someone in particular."

"Maybe I am." Emily said, blushing as she realized what she had been saying. "Maybe I really do feel that way about her!" she added. "And that's why... that's why I can't forgive you for playing with people's hearts like that!" she said, raising a fist as determination blazed in her eyes.

Emily pointed at Cassie. "Now, tell me you're sorry about this!"

"Oh?" Cassie shook her head. "I can't. Fate set me on this path, and if I can't trust destiny, then what can I trust? After all, many things are fated, and all we can do is keep moving forwards." she said, with a small smile.

"Seriously?" said Emily, incredulously. "How can you just believe your horoscope instead of thinking for yourself, or trusting your heart?" she said, putting her hands over her own heart.

"I've put my trust in fate, the beating heart of the universe itself." replied Cassie.

Pat sighed. "Looks like this could go on for a while." he said. "Cassie, you always get in the strangest arguments."

"Fate has plans for us all, and we can only follow it." replied Cassie.

"You two should settle this with a buddyfight. The rooftop was free when we landed there, so let's take this outside." said Pat. "Emily, if you win, Cassie will apologize for all of this. Cassie, if you win, I guess you can go give that letter to Dennis yourself if you still feel strongly about this whole 'fate' thing."

"I've just read my tea leaves." said Cassie, shaking her head. "My next buddyfight will be over with my opponent only ever taking two turns." she said, holding up two fingers in a peace sign. Or perhaps a V for victory.

"TRUTH." was the word on her buddy's screen.

"Two turns?" said Emily. She smiled, and pulled a deck from one of her labcoat's pockets, a different one than she had put the letter into earlier - I hadn't noticed before just how many pockets she had on it, since they blended into the white material that made up the coat. She had once mentioned that she had made it a habit to pat down every pocket for anything she had forgotten whenever she took the labcoat off, but I had always just figured she meant two or three pockets at most.

Emily switched the new deck for the one that was already in her core deck case. "Alright. I'll accept that."

 

* * *

 

"A cross spread that foretells a sudden end!" said Emily, swishing her wand in the air above her head. "Luminize - Five Of A Kind!"

"The stars move through the sky, with or without us watching." she said, as her scarf flapped around her in a sudden gust of wind. Her core gadget became a crystal ball with the core in the stand. "Luminize - Dusk To Dusk!"

"Darkness Dragon World!" said Emily, holding the flag herself. Although I guess under that flag she couldn't call Gorgas anyway, so she must have decided not to bother him with this.

Emily didn't seem to have as strong a connection with her buddy as some of the other monsters I had met, with the Dragowizard not really showing up when we were all just hanging around. I had only been buddies with Tsuki for a few days, though her outgoing personality sometimes made me feel like it had been longer. Eva couldn't have been Kardor's buddy for any longer than Nat had her Gael Khan and it was strange to think there was a time when the quiet girl didn't have the slasher who was so frequently by her side.

On the other hand Emily and Gorgas seemed to have a very hands-off buddy contract. She had told me once that they mostly just exchange research notes, although Gorgas seemed fine with keeping decks wherever he went between fights.

"Star Dragon World!" said Cassie. The flag floated behind her.

"Five Of A Kind? Uh, wait, isn't that..." I started asking Dave, only just now processing that I had heard that name before. He just laughed in response. "Okay, yeah."

"I like your luminize chant." said Cassie, giving a peace sign with one hand.

"Charge and draw!" said Emily, ignoring Cassie's comment. "I'll start by casting One Oracle, which sends the top card of my deck to the drop zone!"

A card shot out from her deck, and flipped around - Actor Knights Chariot.

"Since it's a monster, I get to deal one damage to my opponent." she said. The card dissolved and Cassie's lifepoints ticked down.

"Next I'll call Actor Knights the Sun to the center!" said Emily.

A boy with a halo of light behind his head appeared. His body was mechanical from the neck down, and looked like golden armor. He was sitting on the back of a gold-and-silver mechanical horse, his arms crossed.

"The Sun isn't just a 6000 defense wall - he's a decent attacker too. Attack the fighter!" said Emily, pointing at Cassie.

"Praise the sun!" said the Actor Knight, spreading his arms wide. The halo of light behind him increased in intensity, blasting Cassie with a searing wave of heat that caused her scarf to flutter as she raised a hand in front of her face.

"That's all for turn one!" said Emily. "But you'd better make your turn a good one - if your prediction is right, I'll win before my next turn ends!" she said, adjusting her goggles.

"That's certainly one way to interpret it." said Cassie with a small smile.

"I share a name with the mythical Cassandra, a woman cursed by Apollo to make prophecies that were always true but never believed." she continued. "I do find it rather funny that you fully believe this one prediction I've made, even if you think it means something very different from how I've interpreted it."

"I wouldn't be much of a scientist if I didn't look for an alternate theory." said Emily.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
10/3/4 | 7/2/6

Cassie reached an arm out to the side, lightly tapping the core on the crystal ball's stand with two fingers. "Draw." With those same fingers, she chose a card to push towards her gauge. "Charge, and draw."

"I'll cast Fate Information, to take a glimpse into the future." said Cassie. "I look at the top three cards of my deck and add a card from them to my hand. It does have to be a size 2 or smaller monster, or an item." she explained.

She looked at the three cards in front of her. "I choose my buddy - Dragonarms Reconnaissance." she said, tapping one. The others dissolved.

"Next, I'll buddy call it to the center." she said.

Her Dragonarms buddy used its two arms to push off the ground, jumping forwards to the center position. The word "BEAUTY" briefly flashed on-screen.

"I call Dragonarms Talnada to the right, and Dragonarms Emergence to the left." she said, tapping those two cards with two fingers as she named them.

Emergence looked very much like the kind of starship fighter you'd see in some sci-fi movie. A straightforward design kind of like a jet fighter with the cockpit moved further back. Although that cockpit was instead a screen showing a simple face with a constant look of wide-eyed surprise.

Talnada had a much stranger appearance. It was a blue-tinted robot with a swirling energy vortex contained in a middle section, ringed by quarter-circle segments attached by struts. On the front of the piece containing the vortex was its screen, mounted in the middle of what looked like a more traditonal head and shoulders of a vaguely-humanoid (but neckless) robot. The face on its screen looked kind of sad.

"Fun fact, Cassie's deck doesn't seem to be working." said Dave. "Dragonarms need Neodragons on the field to use their Crossnize effect, and without that they're just vanilla monsters with lousy stats."

"Looks like she needs another turn to set up." said Pat. "Her deck doesn't always go off right away, but when it does... heh." he said, finishing with that short laugh.

Her deck was obviously building to some kind of combo, with the intent of winning the game on the second turn. I guess her prediction was going to end up true by virtue of her deck just not working yet.

"So, uh, she piles all those Dragonarms into another monster to... what, get enough critical to win in one turn?" I asked. I had never seen a Star Dragon World deck in operation, as there was still a fairly small number of players with them, but that did seem to fit what I knew of crossnize.

Pat brought out his core deck case, and turned it into his core gadget - a revolver, with the core in place of the cylinder. He was pointing it straight upwards. "Let me put it this way - my deck _blows away gauge_. But Cassie's deck?" he said with another short 'heh'. "...Well, when it happens, you'll know." he finished cryptically. He twirled his gun and returned it to core deck case form, putting it back onto his belt.

He didn't seem like the type to give us straightforward answers about his team's decks. His own buddy, Dragon Knight Calamity Jane, was a common enough card that anyone seeing him with her would know his deck must involve disrupting the opponent's flow of gauge, so maybe he felt comfortable telling us that his deck did exactly that. He had still left it unclear on what _Cassie's_ deck did.

"Talnada and Recon, attack the center monster." said Cassie, the silver bangle on her left arm bouncing up as she pointed at the Actor Knight.

"CHARM. DOWN." read the words on her buddy's screen, before its screen returned to show the weirdly angry-looking face. Its lid opened up, sirens blaring as three orange lights appeared from inside its head. The one-wheeled Dragonarms raised its arms into the air, and caught onto the struts on the back of Talnada, who was flying overhead. Talnada swung Reconnaissance towards The Sun like a wrecking ball.

"Cast, Devil Stigma!" said Emily. A scythe appeared, piercing The Sun's torso, and he shattered. "I destroy my own monster to get two gauge and a lifepoint, and it also means your attack no longer has a target!"

Talnada flew back over the field, dropping Cassie's buddy back in the center, where it stopped making noise and closed its lid.

"Uh, that was a pretty weird attack." I said.

"Fun fact, you don't see a lot of Dragonarms attack without being part of a Neodragon." noted Dave. "I've seen enough _Taylor Dragon_ episodes to know that." he added, nodding sagely.

Somehow I doubted a cartoon about cute girls crossnizing with their buddy monsters to fight crime was an accurate source of information, but I didn't know enough about Neodragons myself to really say either way.

"So that's why it's Darkness Dragon World now? The support spells?" I asked.

Emily adjusted her goggles again. "I needed the gauge and the defensive power. Dave's deck is heavy on penetrate and lifegain, so I kept losing in tuning games since I couldn't get set up quickly enough, and then I tried four or five different flags, and..." she stopped, realizing she was clasping her hands and talking really fast about her deck. "Oh, I'm rambling. Back to the fight."

"It's wonderful to see a deckbuilder who cares so much about their designs." Cassie said with a smile. She closed her eyes, and wave a hand in Emily's direction."Emergence, attack the fighter!"

Emergence, looking as surprised as ever, swooped forward to blast Emily with a laser.

"Was it my 'fate' to still be on nine lifepoints after everyone on your field attacked?" said Emily with a smile.

"Oh, it's not exactly _fate_ for things to be going against me before the game ends." Cassie smiled, and raised a hand in a peace sign. "After all, everyone says I live a _charmed life_ , but all I do is follow my horoscope the best I can. And it led to me meeting my dear friends and buddies, passing my classes and switching to a new world."

"STRANGE. CHARM." appeared on her buddy's screen.

She then put a finger to the corner of her lips, and looked thoughtful. "You could say my life philosophy is really more about _serendipity_ , where things work themselves out even though I'm blindly following the path set out by my destiny."

"Serendib Efreet?" said Dave, puzzled. "Isn't that from a different game?"

"Serendipity." said Eva, from beside Dave. "It means when something good happens, but wasn't sought out." She sat down. "A pleasant surprise."

"Oh hey Eva, you got here just in time for... whatever it is Cassie predicted? A two-turn kill? I'm not really following this." Dave shrugged. "Emily's fighting her because of some love letter thing."

Eva turned to look at Dave, pulling the hair from her covered eye. "Love letter?" she asked.

She never showed any emotion on her face, but between that gesture with her hair and the suddenness of her actually asking a question I wondered if something was wrong.

"Uh, Cassie sent a love letter to Dennis, but it ended up in Emily's locker somehow." I explained. "But Cassie only sent it because her horoscope told her to, and doesn't really think about Dennis that way? So Emily's trying to get an apology out of her."

"I see." said Eva, pulling her hair back into position. I wonder if that had anything to do with her acting weird after our fight yesterday. Or her wanting to tell Emily something this morning.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
9/5/3 | 8/2/4

"Draw! Charge and draw!" Emily looked at her hand. "Great! I call Actor Knights The Fool, to the center!"

A boy appeared, his face more robotic than the other Actor Knights I had seen. He was wearing metal armor over primarily red clothes that had been patched with fabric of many colors. He had tufts of blonde hair coming out of the top of his head, and a sprig of some plant in his mouth. His arms and legs were also clearly mechanical, ending in brown leather boots and gloves. A green bindle on the end of a stick was slung over one of his shoulders.

"Full of life, full of hope!" said The Fool, a smile on his face.

"Next, I cast Fool's Journey!" said Emily, holding out the spell card. "For one gauge and one copy of The Fool from my field, I can draw three cards!"

The Fool rose up in the air, closing his eyes and humming a happy tune before exploding into three cards, which flew into Emily's hand.

"Fun fact, she needs three Tarot cards in the drop zone to cast it." said Dave. "One Oracle counts, and her two monsters are enough, but it's usually too tricky to pull off on turn one."

"Here's one of those three cards right now! I pay three gauge and cast - Arcana Flash!" said Emily. "It's a spell that lets me do a prediction of my own! A bigger one than One Oracle, because for every card of the top five of my deck that's an Actor Knight, I get to deal one damage!"

"Oh?" said Cassie, tilting her head to one side. "What an unexpected development!"

Recon tilted to the side as well, its screen now reading "STRANGE."

Emily pointed her wand in front of her, sweeping it from left to right. Five cards shot out and revealed themselves in turn.

"The Tower, the Hanged Man, another Fool's Journey - should I treat that as The Fool? Judgement, and the Magician." said Cassie. "It's difficult to do a tarot reading this quickly, but..."

"I was joking about the prediction." said Emily. "Please stop trying to actually read my fortune from cards I play."

"That's four damage right there." I said as a blast of energy hit Cassie. "She really might win it this turn."

"That's nice." said Cassie. "But my buddy could very easily give me back that life if I get another turn."

"UP." said its screen.

" _If_ you get another turn." said Emily. "I call Actor Knights the Star to the left!"

A blonde woman in an outfit with constantly shifting colors (mostly shades of blue and pink) appeared, water flowing out of her overly wide sleeves.

"Next, I'll call Actor Knights Devil to the right, and he'll put Star into my gauge!"

As the clown-masked Devil appeared, he pointed his pitchfork at The Star. She of course turned into a star, and flew into Emily's gauge.

"For another three gauge, I cast a second Arcana Flash!" said Emily. Five cards flew out again, turning over one by one.

"Another Chariot, the Star, the Justice, One Oracle... oh, and how fitting, the Lovers!" said Cassie as each card turned, smiling.

"You, uh, do realise that means you've lost?" I said.

Dragonarms Reconnaissance flashed the word "DOWN." as a second blast of energy hit Cassie. Her lifepoints ticked down to 0, and the Star Dragon World flag behind her shattered.

"[Winner: Emily Primrose.]"

"Well, it does look like I've interpreted both of my predictions wrong." mused Cassie. "You really did only need two turns."

She tilted her head, glancing sidelong and downwards at her buddy.

"When Emily was talking about what love is, there was one girl I kept thinking about." said Cassie. "Maybe... just this once, I can try going against the destiny I saw and tell her how I feel?" she said thoughtfully, putting a finger to the corner of her lips.

"CHARM." replied Recon.

"Well, I don't know if Tess feels the same way, but it might be nice to give it a try." said Cassie, smiling.

"Now I just need to check my horoscope to see when would be a good day to tell her..." she started.

Her buddy started rocking from side to side, the words "DOWN. DOWN. DOWN. DOWN." scrolling frantically across its screen while it waved both hands in the air.

Cassie patted her buddy on the top of its head to calm it down. "I was only joking. I'll tell her the next time I see her."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Emily said. She had floated across on her buddy skill, landing in front of Cassie. "Well? Aren't you going to apologize about the letters?" she said.

"If the fates willed me to lose, then yes." smiled Cassie. "My buddy and myself apologize for any distress my letter may have caused you."

Recon rolled forward as if bowing, the word "TRUTH." scrolling across the screen over and over as Cassie spoke.

"Letters. Plural. I just checked my labcoat pocket and there's two."

"Oh?" said Cassie, tilting her head. "Did I send two?" she asked her buddy.

The word "STRANGE." flashed on its screen as Recon swayed to one side as well.

"Nope. Recon tells me I only gave you one letter." she said, holding up a lone finger for emphasis. "And that was by mistake."

"But I've got another letter here!" she said, pulling it out of her pocket.

"Maybe the second one was there already, and you put the one from your locker in the same pocket?" suggested Cassie. “Someone could have put it there beforehand, if they knew you were going to wear it.” It was clear by now that she didn't actually have any idea where the second one had came from.

She pulled an envelope out of one pocket, with "Emily" written on the front of it in small neat letters. She opened it, and pulled out a letter.

"It's even kind of similar. A lot easier to read, though." Her eyes moved rapidly across the letter as she skimmed it, reading some parts out loud. "On the same team, don't talk much, felt this way about you for a long time, blah blah blah... signed... Oh." She turned bright red as she finally realized who the second letter was from. "OH!"

"Was it a real letter after all?" said Cassie to her buddy, a quizzical finger to her lips. I had just realized who it was from, too. I glanced aside at Eva, who was watching Emily with her usual focused gaze - she must have dropped it in her pocket as she was leaving this morning.

The word "TRUTH" flashed once again. The Dragonarms turned to face us with its default angry expression, waved one hand through the air, then returned to Cassie's deck.

"If that's all for now, then may our paths be destined to cross again." She gave a cheerful wave to the still blushing Emily, and took off with her buddy skill - a white clock face behind her with the hands moving slowly in opposing directions, and every second hour marked with roman numerals. "Farewell!"

"E-Eva?" said Emily, beet red. "I really need to talk to you now!"

 

* * *

 

Emily and Eva had gone to an empty classroom. After a few minutes of trying to calm herself down, Emily spoke, now only blushing a little.

"Eva..." she started. The other girl looked at her intently. "I'm sorry I didn't read your letter earlier, and we got dragged into this whole thing with Cassie, and... well, do you really mean what you wrote? About, well... about how you feel?" she said, leaning forwards and clasping her hands together.

Eva nodded slightly, her expression as unchanging as ever. After several moments of silence, she replied. "I don't think I could say it out loud. But, Emily..." she trailed off. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, taking a few slow and calm breaths before opening them and brushing her hair aside. "I meant every word."

Emily blushed a little more again, looking away slightly in embarrassment. "Well, that's great! I feel the same!" she said, with a smile. "Since you can't say it, oh..."

Emily shook her head, and looked Eva directly in the eyes.

"Eva, will you be my girlfriend?"

Eva gazed at Emily for a few seconds, as if contemplating how to reply to the question she had wanted to hear for so long. Without a word she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Emily, pulling her into a hug. Emily was momentarily surprised, but soon started giggling at the unexpected gesture. She hugged Eva back.

 

* * *

 

We decided not to wait up for Emily and Eva - whatever they were talking about was their own business. Dave was grinning, as if to say 'I knew it!' constantly.

Pat tipped his hat to us. "Looks like this was all a misunderstanding."

I shrugged. "No harm no foul, I guess."

"Don't forget to register your team before the deadline, Dave." said Pat. "I'll be off now." He walked off in a different direction from us.

"Fun fact, it's kind of weird seeing my two best friends actually finally get together." He paused for a moment. "Sorry, two of my three best friends." he said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand.

"Uh, don't feel like you have to include me." I said. "You've known them a lot longer."

"Fun fact, when me and Emily were a lot younger we kind of thought we'd end up together. But, well, y'know." he said, giving a wavy hand gesture. Right, she only liked girls.

He shrugged. "But yeah, I've only known Eva for a year. Fun fact, she didn't even wear those fancy clothes back then. But if you think she's not talkative now, well..." he trailed off. "Anyway, did you know about that? That she was, what, writing a love letter? Because that is _adorable_." he said with a smile.

"Uh, she did say she had something to tell Emily." I said. "You know, when you guys were off at the lab yesterday. She didn't get too specific, though." I guess she must have written the letter overnight. The thought of a cute girl wearing a pretty dress writing a letter to confess her love was admittedly nice.

Cassie must have written hers after reading her horoscope the same day, albeit in much fancier handwriting. I did wonder if I had heard her right when she had mentioned Tess, or if she was even talking about the same Tess I had met.

Dave laughed. "Fun fact, she pulled me aside maybe a week ago to ask if I really meant it when I was teasing her about Emily liking her as well." He closed his eyes and put his arms out for a wide shrug. "I can't believe it took them this long. Everyone but them could see it."

"Maybe they're like Cassie?" I suggested. "They had all the information, but just interpreted it wrong? I kind of thought Emily was scared of Eva when I first met them."

"Heh, maybe." said Dave. "Fun fact, they're two of the smartest people I know, but I could see both of them overthinking it way too much."

"Well, I'm glad this all turned out well." I said. "We don't really want any more drama before the tournament."

 

* * *

 

"So, like, I guess they're dating now?" said Tess. "I mean, I guess that's groovy? And Cassie gave up on Dennis, so maybe I've got more of a chance with him." She giggled. "Plus she sent me a text, said she wanted to go see a movie with me and tell me about someone else she liked so, like, that's rad. I'm usually the one dragging her out while she complains about the stars not being right, or whatever groovy new-age magic she's into this week."

Tess turned to the other girl in the room. She waved an arm. "Hey, Earth to Nat, are you even listening?"

"Not really." said Natasha, looking through her deck. She fanned out some cards in her hand, glared at one as if personally offended by it, and removed it.

Tess pouted. She leaned forward, her arms on the back of a chair. "I know you've given up on your cooking thing to focus on, like, whatever you're up to. And that's cool, whatever, I can't stand doing the same stuff all the time anyway, so I've been in, like, every club. But you really don't care at all?"

"No." Nat said, replacing the card she had just removed with another from a small pile on the table in front of her. "I really don't." She glanced at the younger Warlord. "All that matters is making the others of this school prove their strength." she said. "Neither of us should rest until he can become strong enough to defeat me."

"Eh?" said Tess, tilting her head. "What's that even supposed to mean?" She shrugged. "Whatever. Guess there's no point asking you to movie night. I wonder who else Cassie's bringing. Like, maybe it’s just us again? Last time that happened was pretty fun..." she said, flipping through messages on her phone.

"One week from today, I will meet his team." said Natasha. Tess turned back to face her, confused. She slotted her new deck into her core deck case. "The two of you will come with me, and we will make a display of our power."


	12. Serendipity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Timo and his friends finally choose a name for their team, and Dave challenges him to one last friendly fight before the tournament.

"Yo, TZ, aren't you gonna use my buddy skill to get to school?" asked Tsukiusagi, my rabbit-masked skull warrior buddy, as she walked alongside me.

I shrugged. "It's a nice day and we're not in any hurry." I answered. "Besides, I've just been flying to school for the last week, I really should get more exercise."

Tsuki laughed. "S'yeah, you're the one who said it, not me!"

At first it was kind of weird having a buddy monster. Mom's buddy, Armorknight Wisp, didn't hang around at home often (and the less said about dad and his buddy the better), so I wasn't exactly used to the idea. After just a week or two it already felt normal that there was this weird rabbit-masked girl who sleeps on my couch and drinks all my soda, like she was just my lazy sister or something.

No, I thought, suddenly feeling guilty. She wasn't my sister.

I had to keep focused on Nat. Fighting my sister, actually winning against her for once, might be the only chance I had to snap her out of whatever this was. Or at least get some kind of explanation out of her.

"Hey, yo, Earth to TZ!" said Tsuki, waving a hand in front of my face. I must have zoned out while she was saying something.

"Uh, sorry about that." I said. "Just kind of distracted. I mean, the tournament is starting soon."

"S'yeah TZ! So you should be getting your head in the game!" she said.

Speaking of games, we were walking past the arcade already. Dave had pulled me in here a couple of times to play a racing game called Future Car Buggyfight. I remembered being late to class once because he insisted we finish a round on Car Dragon World, the racetrack that looped around the equator of an entire planet.

I paused when I heard a familiar pair of voices shouting about the crane game near the entrance.

"Epic fail! It just dropped out of the claw like _phat lewt_ out of a raid boss!" laughed Johnny Thompson, the punk-rock Dungeon World fighter who was a former member of Team Warlords before my sister kicked him out. His buddy, Ninja Apprentice Akatsuki, was laughing with him.

"What are you laughing about?" said his older brother Robbie, the only Horror World fighter in the academy that wasn't on my team. "It's you that wanted this Bladewing Phoenix toy so bad, you should be the one wastin' your money on it!"

"Yeah bro? It's _limited edition_ , but I don't want it so much I'd try a crane game!" said Johnny. "Everyone knows they're rigged! I'll have enough tickets from skeeball before you're even rolling need or greed!"

The brothers seemed busy with their argument, so I could probably sneak past while their backs were turned. Tsuki had vanished - back into her card, I guess.

Robbie yelled in frustration as the little spherical owl rolled out of the claw again, landing on a pile of Jackknife Dragon toys.

"Hey! Akatsuki!" said Robbie, addressing the little ninja adventurer. "Use your ninja skills! Just... I don't know, sneak in there and take it!"

"Yeah, I don't know..." said Akatsuki, apprehensive.

"Stop right there!" said a voice from behind me. I turned back to see what was going on.

Pat O'Shea, the junior buddy police officer known for his cowboy outfit and hat, had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"Looks like you were trying to get a buddy monster to steal from... Hey, come back!" said Pat, changing from speaking normally to yelling in the middle of the sentence

A large wolf-like figure sprinted past me, the would-be criminals riding on its back. Robbie's buddy, the Iron Wolf Ferrocious?

"Let it go, Pat. They got enough of a scare." said another boy who had just landed next to Pat. His teammate and fellow buddy police youth member, Dennis Primrose. Emily's older brother, who always had a polite and earnest manner of speaking. "Hello Timo, terribly sorry if we startled you. Buddy police business and all."

"Uh, don't worry about it." I said, as he headed off after his teammate.

An older gentleman gave me a small wave as he walked past, a red lizard the size of a fairly-large dog plodding along beside him.

"Good morning, Timo." said Professor Vervayens, father of my teammate Dave.

"'Morning, lad." said his buddy, the Dungeon Master called Meteor Rain.

"Hi, good morning." I said. They had continued on past me, apparently resuming their conversation. I shared a shrug with Tsuki, and we continued on our way.

 

* * *

 

"Timo Zaitsev!" I heard my sister's voice say behind me. "The time has come to face me in our destined Buddyfight - to the death!"

I froze in panic for a moment, then burst out laughing when I realized what was going on. I turned to face the source of the voice.

"Uh, nice try, Tess. But she's never called me that."

Tess giggled. She was sitting at a table outside a cafe, her elbows on the table while her hands (concealed under the overly-long sleeves of a pastel-blue hoodie) were folded under her chin. A cup of coffee was in front of her, topped with copious amounts of whipped cream.

Her buddy, Dragon Knight Napoleon, was visible inside the cafe. A large bowl of ice-cream was in front of him, which has was sharing with a small horse-like creature - actually the disguised form of his dragon mount.

"That wasn't right." said the green-haired girl sitting across from Tess, shaking her head slightly. "Their destined battle isn't for some time."

Cassie Gemini, the strange fortuneteller girl from the year above me, had a cup of tea in front of her. She was wearing the same toga-like outfit she had the last time I saw her, but with no scarf this time.

"I was totally just messing with him, right? We go way back!" said Tess. "Like, no hard feelings, Timo?"

"Don't worry about it." I said.

"You only met him a day before I did." remarked Cassie, a finger to the corner of her mouth.

"Hey, are you two on a date?" said Tsuki from beside me, grinning slyly.

Tess laughed. "Kinda, I guess?"

Cassie smiled. "We have had drinks together every morning before school for a while." she said.

“I jump around between clubs a lot, and Cassie had just joined the calligraphy club because of her fortune or whatever.” said Tess. “Like, I moved on from that club pretty quickly, not my scene? But Cassie was fun, so we started hanging out?”

“It’s very relaxing, but Tess doesn’t have the patience for it.” mused Cassie.

"Like, we just hug a little more often now?" said Tess. "It's kinda complicated. But hey! I'm cute, she's cute, anyone else we wanna go out with? Totally cute. So it's all good." she said, waving a sleeve at me.

"Thank you for helping me work out my feelings." said Cassie. "Though I still care deeply for my teammates, I understand that it was not in this way. It may not be the destiny foretold by the last cycle of time, but it has certainly worked out well."

"S'yeah. No sweat, future girl!" said Tsuki.

"We, uh, kind of just ended up in the middle of that?" I replied. "If you thank anyone it'd have to be Emily, I guess?"

"Tess told you of a false future." started Cassie.

"...as a joke, geez!" laughed Tess.

"But would you like me to read your true fortune?" asked Cassie, her crystal ball core gadget appearing in her hands.

"No thanks. I, uh, don't really have the time?" I lied. The last time she had tried had actually spooked me out a little, reminding me of the last camping trip I ever went on with dad. I didn't really want her to do something like that again.

"Oh." said Cassie, a little disappointed.

"Hey, yo, TZ? Just ask her buddy something." said Tsuki, elbowing my ribs. I guess she was trying to give me a way to end this topic without Cassie getting upset.

Cassie perked up a little at that. "My buddy? Yes, I suppose Recon would give a quicker answer, if you have a simple question."

Her buddy, the squat orange Dragonarms robot with an angry face shown on its front monitor, emerged from her core gadget into a vacant chair. I knew it never actually spoke, only showing six specific words on its screen, so I didn't expect a greeting.

"Hmm." I said, trying to think of something. Maybe just something about the upcoming tournament? "Uh, is there anyone we should watch out for that we don't already know about?"

Cassie's buddy stared at me for a moment, mute. Cassie tilted her head, watching it expectantly.

"STRANGE. UP." were the words displayed on its screen. Then the angry face again. Then, "DOWN. UP. STRANGE. CHARM."

"Huh." I said, puzzled by the answer. "Uh, that's everything it says other than 'truth' and 'beauty', right?"

It repeated the pattern a few times, swaying from side to side.

"Uh... okay?" I said. I looked at Cassie. "Any idea what it means?"

"That is a mystery." she said. "Recon has answered a few questions that way this morning. I asked it if I had forgotten anything before I left the dorm and it gave the same answer."

"Like, maybe Recon's just tired?" said Tess. "I can just talk on and on about the same thing without realizing if I don't get to sleep on time."

"Well, thanks anyway." I said. "Maybe we'll understand later?"

"TRUTH." replied Recon, finally breaking out of its loop.

Tsuki and myself said our goodbyes and headed on to the academy.

 

* * *

 

I headed towards the statue of the academy's founder near the front gate to the school. The bronze sculpture of John Bushiroad and his similarly metallic buddy, Jamadhar Dragon, were shaking hands on the plinth as always.

"Over here, Timo!" called a voice. I turned to see my friend and teammate, Dave, waving both his hands above his head. As always he was wearing a green blazer, and had a huge grin on his face. His buddy, an Armorknight Sphinx that he called Sphinxy, was on the ground beside him in SD form - blue and orange-striped with an Egyptian headdress.

Emily was waving to me as well, although only with one hand. She had her labcoat on, but was wearing her glasses rather than her goggles right now.

The hand Emily wasn't waving was holding that of my third teammate, Eva. The quiet and nearly-expressionless girl was wearing one of her usual black dresses - this one with a red rose motif. She nodded in my direction.

"Hey guys." I said, when I reached my friends.

"Hey Timo!" said Dave. "Fun fact, I'm super hyped for the tournament! I can barely sleep!"

Emily giggled. "He just wants an excuse to stay up all night watching cartoons on his phone."

"Hey, I'm not the one who wanted a movie night!" he said defensively. "Fun fact, I'm researching to find the best one to bring!" he added, giving a thumbs up.

"The rest of us made our choices without staying up until three in the morning." said Emily. "Eva and myself were even talking about it on our date last night, and she actually had some really good ideas."

Eva nodded. "My papa sends advance copies." she said. It was kind of weird hearing her use such an affectionate name for her dad without breaking out of her usual deadpan.

"Uh, how was it anyway?" I asked. "The date, I mean?"

Emily's eyes practically lit up at the question. "It was great! We looked at cute dresses, then we went to this adorable little tea shop in town, and we talked about our ships..."

"You guys own boats?" asked Tsuki, incredulously.

Emily giggled. "Not that kind of ship. We were... well, I mentioned that I had read this really cute Taylor Dragon fic, and it turns out Eva actually writes some of them?" she said. "She had some really sweet ideas for ones where Pandora wanted to hold hands with Taylor, plus some weirdly cute ones about Taylor getting this weird Magic World disease which was turning her into a plant... oh, but I'm rambling." she finished.

"Sounds like you guys had a good time." I said, smiling. I was happy that things were working out for them.

"It was nice." said Eva, closing her eyes as she nodded slightly. "I had a lot of fun."

Emily giggled, blushing a little. Even something like that from our often-quiet friend was high praise.

"But that's enough about us..." she said, trying to change the subject. "Why did you ask us all to meet here this early?"

"Fun fact, we've still got classes to get through before movie night." said Dave. "And don't think I've forgotten that we were gonna have a match against each other on the fight stage today, too!" he said with a wink.

Sphinxy sat up on his hind paws, his forepaws raised like fists. "Yeah!" said the little armorknight. "Emily's built us a new deck and it's great! It's gonna be a big win for Dave!"

"S'yeah little dude, don't count TZ out either!" said my buddy, throwing finger-guns at the little armorknight. They shared a laugh.

The two of them were kind-of immature at times, especially compared to the studious Gorgas and bizarrely fatherly Kardor, but it was nice that our buddies all got along.

"Looking forward to it, Sphinxy." I said, before turning to Dave. "I, uh, just thought we should all meet up in front of the statue?" I said. "I mean, you said it was good luck, and we kind of need all the luck we can get..."

"Is that why you made that rather odd suggestion for our team name?" asked Emily, adjusting her glasses with her free hand. "Although we all voted for it so I can't complain." she added with a smile.

"What, Team Serendipity?" I said.

I had suggested the name a couple of days ago. With Sphinxy growing into a new form, Emily and Eva finally confessing their feelings for each other and Tsuki becoming buddies with me, last week had been pretty busy. So we had spent our time after school this week all chilling out together. We were throwing around more names in between tuning matches and I had kind of blurted it out as an idea.

"Uh, it was something Cassie said when you fought her, and it stuck with me? You know, the thought of things always working out? I found it kind of inspiring." I explained lamely.

Dave laughed. "What, Team Certain Success isn't inspiring enough for you?", he joked. He had actually been the first to agree when I had suggested it. He even talked Sphinxy out of being the sole vote for the simply named 'Team Awesome'.

Tsuki, on the other hand, had just quipped that it was too bad Gorgas wasn't a pink dragon. The dragowizard, though baffled, had raised his hand to vote for my suggestion, followed by a raised hook from Kardor.

"I like Serendipity more." said Eva, simply.

"Heh, thanks." I said. "It's just, all of this.. our team, us becoming friends... it wasn't exactly what I was trying to find, but I'm really glad it happened."

"I was just looking for Danger World fighters, trying to figure out why the deck didn't work for me like it did for Nat, and mom and dad, and... well, I met you guys." I said. "My best friends." I added, smiling at them.

Dave gave me a thumbs up. "Fun fact, whenever Eva tells me a word I don't know, I go look it up." he said. "I get a lot of cool new facts that way!"

I laughed. Of course he'd try to dig up new trivia from anything his friends said. "Okay, so?" I asked, wondering what weird piece of trivia this'd lead into.

"Eva used some weird word a while back, granfalloon? It sounded cool, so I looked it up and it was just 'the opposite of a karass', apparently?" He shrugged. I opened my mouth to ask the obvious question, but he cut me off. "Not like the academy. That's just the name of some old friend of the founder, I guess."

"But yeah." he continued. "Fun fact? A karass is a group of people who are connected and don't know about it. And I think we were all kind of pulled together by something. Whether that's fate or just luck, well, I really don't mind." He grinned. "After all, just like you, I've ended up with the best friends in the world!" He said, winking.

"Yeah, that's kind of where I was coming from." I said. "I mean, if things had turned out just a little differently... well, we'd never have formed this team."

"Hmm?" said Emily. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, when I met Dave, back when I was running Danger World? I'd, uh, kind of already ran into Team Trash." I said.

Ran into was an understatement - even against one of their buddyless fighters, running a Danger World deck with no really unique tricks, I still lost _horribly_. If I went up against Robbie Thompson, having never met my friends, all my hopes of ever confronting my sister would have been shattered against the iron armor of his buddy.

"So, uh, if I didn't meet you guys when I did they'd have pulled me onto their team." I said.

It went without saying that if I didn't have Emily's deckbuilding skills to help me out, or the chance to tune my deck against skilled fighters like Dave and Eva, I wouldn't have ever improved to the point I was at now. But now I was a better buddyfighter, with my own buddy fighting by my side. I was more confident in myself. And, most importantly, I had friends I truly cared about.

Dave shrugged. "Fun fact, if I hadn't spent the last few weeks getting to know a new friend, and hearing about how much of a jerk Timo's sister was being... maybe I'd have actually thought about listening to Schwarzschild's offer. So I might have been one of the Warlords. Instead of being on the best team in the academy." he finished, jokingly.

Emily laughed. "Then it'd just be Eva and me, and I'd have ended up on the Shining Knights with my brother."

"I don't know where I'd be." said Eva. Emily squeezed her hand softly.

"Come on guys, group photo time!" said Dave, grinning and holding out his phone. "Buddies and everyone!"

Dave waved down a passing blonde girl wearing a purple dress (and her dryad buddy), handing her the phone - I wasn't sure if he knew her or had just stopped someone at random. He then picked up Sphinxy in his arms, and joined the rest of us. Kardor and Gorgas stood in front of us, in their SD forms.

I hadn't seen Emily's dragowizard buddy like this before, as despite not being human he was less immediately terrifying than literal horror movie slasher Kardor. Gorgas' feather hat looked a lot bigger when he was shrunk down but otherwise his white-and-gold outfit scaled down to look pretty normal on the squat blue dragon.

Tsuki chose to stand behind Dave and myself, for reasons that became apparent when we looked at the picture later - she was making rabbit ears with her hands behind our heads.

"Tsuki!" I said, laughing.

"I saw a chance and I took it, TZ!" she said, shrugging with a grin on her face.

"Fun fact, Tsuki does that every time she's in a picture with you." said Dave, flipping back through earlier pictures he had taken of our team. "It's in your registration pic for the tournament, too."

"S'yeah, guilty as charged!" she said, throwing a peace sign.

"See? Here's Emily with my dad's broken vase from Dragon World that she tried to use Magical Glue to put back together, before we discovered that the true value of antiques is actually the friends we made fixing them." said Dave. "There's you guys in the background, and fun fact? Rabbit ears."

Oh yeah, that wacky adventure we had earlier this week. Many laughs were had.

He scrolled to the picture before it.

"Here's us at the arcade, and rabbit ears. Here's us with Tess, and you guessed it."

He continued going back through photos. All of us after my fight with Dave's dad, after my fight with Robbie, a few of us just hanging out in the lab... and eventually ones before I had even met my friends.

It was easy for me to forget that I hadn't really known any of them very long. Dave and Emily had known Eva for over a year, and had known each other since they were kids.

I had known them for a little over a month.

While I was lost in quiet thought Dave had apparently scrolled back through half a year of group pictures and selfies.

"Oh hey, remember this one, Eva?" he said. "Fun fact, she didn't used to wear those cute dresses - she wore this cute sweater instead!"

"S'yeah, what a change!" said Tsuki.

"Let's see... Emily squeeing out when we first met Sphinxy, me when I still had my hair long..."

I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned around, and found myself looking into the eyes of some kind of insect-person.

"Ah!" I exclaimed, jumping back in surprise. I heard Dave burst out laughing beside me.

"Oi, Karl! Masks off!", I heard someone shout.

"Oh, huh, okay." said the bug-person, in a somewhat deep voice. On closer inspection he wasn't much taller than me, and was wearing what looked like a partially-tattered business suit. He raised his two (human) hands and took off what turned out to be his mask, revealing a round-faced boy with perpetually half-closed eyes.

"What's up." he said.

"Karl! Cool mask!" said Dave, stepping forwards to brofist him. "Fun fact, that's way less goofy than the costume store ones from last time round!"

"Juanita made them for us, pretty cool." said Karl, as two girls stepped up beside him. "Mandibles move and everything."

One of the girls was wearing an outfit that was probably meant to be white under splatters of different colors of paint, which were arranged in patterns too artful to be accidental - they followed the color spectrum from one side to the other. Her reddish-brown hair was in two pigtails, each with a red bow. She gave us a mock salute.

The other girl had her dark hair up in a bun. She had piercing purple eyes and wore an immaculate business suit, perfectly maintained and clean in contrast to the outfits her teammates wore. For some reason her suit and red tie, along with her somewhat imposing presence, put me in mind of a professional assassin.

"Oi, you're Dave and Eva's new teammate?" she said, looking at me.

I noticed she had a strange red mechanical arm floating next to her, holding a cup of coffee. The core on the elbow implied it was her core gadget, but I had no idea what it represented. If it represented anything, that is? Maybe she was like Tess and just changed hers to something useful.

"Uh, yeah?" I said. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met?" I'd like to think I'd remember meeting anyone as distinctive as these three.

"Nina." she said, pointing to herself. She pointed at the other two in turn. "Karl. Juanita. We're Team Hotline."

"Oh, right." I said. Even if I hadn't met them I had heard of them. "Eva's friends, from the newspaper club."

"I don't know if she'd call us friends, but sure." said Nina. "Let's go with that."

Karl laughed a little. "He thinks you're in the newspaper club." he said to the as-yet silent third Hotline fighter, Juanita.

The girl who hadn't spoken yet... didn't actually speak. She began moving her hands rapidly, giving me a sly smile. Sign language?

"Uh, sorry, I don't speak... I don't know sign language?" I said.

She just shook her head, and held up her core gadget - an old-style tape recorder. A Walkman, I think they were called? She pressed a button on it.

"Nice to meet you." the device said in a woman's calm (and pre-recorded) voice.

"Uh, same." I said, unsure of what she had actually been saying before but pretty certain it wasn't just that. She just threw devil horns with her free hand in response.

Nina had apparently been talking to Dave while this was going on. "...info about all the teams in the tournament. Some extra stuff spooky girl and roach boy dug up, too. Don't go showing that to everyone, our comments are extras."

"Fun fact, I know all of you guys did a great job on this!" replied Dave.

"Eh? Yeah, sure, thanks." said the older girl, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. She turned to her teammates. "Oi, roach boy! Dragon girl! Time to go." she said.

Dave grinned, and held up his phone. "Fun fact, she sent all of us some cool info about the other teams." He looked a little thoughtful. "Doesn't really count as getting a girl's number, but hey."

I brought out my own phone, and sure enough noticed a new message on it. I flipped through the files we had been sent. Information on the teams in the tournament, huh. I looked at the first entry.

 

* * *

 

TEAM WARLORDS  
Natasha Zaitsev / Danger World / Emperor Dragon Gael Khan. "Martial Law" - Size 3 Sweeper.  
Wrestling club (former)  
The cold and powerful amazon who leads the Warlords. A champion-level wrestler in the Oshchepkov style, and an accomplished chef like her father. She became the leader of the Warlords by challenging and defeating every current member.  
Fun fact: The highest ranked buddyless fighter in our previous tournament.

Nina: Her deck can easily break through one line of defense. Bring soulguard or defensive items, or just die.  
Eva: Her buddy is often her finisher.

 

* * *

 

Of course Nat was the top-ranked player right now, as leader of the reigning champions.

"Oh hey, you put in fun facts for me!" said Dave, smiling. "Not exactly the right format but thanks!"

"They help you focus." said Eva. "I thought it would be a good idea."

"Aw, thanks Eva!" he said, giving her a thumbs up.

I flipped to a random other entry. The image was of Karl, one of the Hotline members I had met earlier. He was smiling as he held a fairly large insect in his hands. No wait, the insect was almost humanoid? And its head looked a lot like the mask he was wearing before? Weird.

 

* * *

 

TEAM HOTLINE  
Karl Schaber / Darkness Dragon World / Black Dragon G. "Elusive Target" - Reverse Gao Formation.  
Journalism club investigator, soccer club, co-founder of Hotline.  
The extremely chill Roach Boy of Hotline. His buddy has the smallest alternative form in the school, becoming a swarm of cockroaches. A fan of retro videogames.  
Fun fact: Met his buddy while dumpster-diving for computer parts.

Nina: I don't think I've ever seen anyone build a deck with Death Game. So kudos for that, Roach Boy.  
Eva: His deck has no monsters larger than size 1.

 

* * *

 

"Huh." I said. "I wonder if..."

 

* * *

  
TEAM SERENDIPITY  
Timofei "Timo" Zaitsev / Katana World / Lightning Speed Tsukiusagi. "Rabbit Trail" - Counter Skull Warriors.  
No club/committee affiliation.  
The ninja chef of Serendipity. He gave his team (formerly Team Certain Success) their new name. One of the highest grade averages in his year.  
Fun fact: Only ever fought using a Danger World trial deck up until 3 weeks ago.

Nina: Seems to rely on set spells and set impacts.  
Eva: A newer fighter with a lot of potential.

 

* * *

 

Ninja chef? I guess the nicknames for other fighters were equally bizarre.

"This could be pretty useful." I admitted to Eva. "But, uh, you traded in information on us to get the rest?"

"Yes." she replied. "Most of it was already public knowledge."

"Fun fact, we may have gone out in the first round last time but we're not complete unknowns." said Dave.

"Eh, I guess it doesn't really make us any worse off." I said. It technically wasn't correct with my new deck dropping Lethal Formation. "Unless we end up against the newspaper club... uh, Team Hotline?" I said.

"Team Hotline are not all from the newspaper club." said Eva. "And the club aren't all on that team."

I guess that second one should have been obvious - I knew Eva wrote for them. "Huh. So those are your friends from the newspaper club?"

"I'm still not sure if they are friends." she said. It was easy to see Eva as not making friends easily, and her connection to the school newspaper seemed more like a business relationship. "But we can trust their information."

Dave laughed. “Fun fact, they totally think of you as friends? So they’d be fine with you calling them that.”

"I, uh, kind of didn't have a lot of friends before meeting you guys." I said. "I mean there were classmates, like we'd meet up after school for projects sometimes? But there really wasn't anyone who'd call me their best friend."

Even Nat had other friends. I wonder if she still spoke to them?

"I don't know if you guys get what that felt like." I said. "I just want to say I'm really grateful you've all stuck by me."

"I know how that feels." said Eva. "I didn't have anyone either."

I shrugged. "I mean, we've all got each other now, so no point in us moping about it, right?"

"Yeah!" said Dave, putting an arm around my shoulder and reaching a bit more with his other to pull Emily and Eva closer. "We're the best team of the best friends!"

"And fun fact, part of being a team means training!" he said with a grin.

"So, uh, see you later for that fight?" I said.

 

* * *

 

It was now after class, and I was standing on the fight stage. I looked back at Tsuki, who gave me a thumbs up.

"I've got a question for you!" started Dave. He paused in the middle of his chant, and pointed his core gadget staff at the stands behind me. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

That was a weird luminize chant.

Wait.

I turned around to see who he was pointing at. _Oh._ Oh no.

"Now now now, David. Can't an old friend and his team come to watch your fight?"

The Warlords, all three of them, were here.


	13. Vulgar Display Of Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nat reveals her true deck, and the source of her terrifying new life philosophy.

"I will never teach that boy the Zaitsev recipes!" said Nat's father. "He is too _weak_ and _pathetic_!"

"But father, Timofei tries his best! He cares about cooking as much as us, he just isn't as strong as..." Nat objected, but fell into silence as her father cut her off.

"He could be strong in body, but he is not strong in heart!" bellowed her father, the huge man thumping his chest with a fist for emphasis. "He couldn't even kill a tiny baby rabbit!" he said, making an almost complete circle with a finger a thumb of one of his hands, as if indicating the size of a tiny animal.

Nat didn't reply. She had went along with the first test her father had set before her, back when he had started to teach her the family recipes. Without hesitation, to gain her father's approval, she had followed his orders to hunt for wild animals with her bare hands.

"In days of old, soldiers would be given a pet dog to raise when training! Then as a final test they would strangle the dog!" he said, making a gesture with both his hands as if throttling a neck.

Her little brother Timofei, on the other hand, _had_ hesitated every time he was told to hunt, or to kill an animal his father or sister had captured. Her father had finally just given up in disgust after catching the boy staring wide-eyed in horror at a wild rabbit the man had caught alive with the intention of making him kill and cook it.

Timofei wasn't gifted with her near-superhuman strength, the sheer power and stamina that allowed her to train by wrestling with the Armorknight Polar Bear that her father had buddied. Instead her soft-spoken baby brother would always have his nose in a book to try and figure out some way to work around problems. But that wasn't good enough for their dad.

"...No fighting spirit! Even you, Natasha, have more..." Her father was still gesturing wildly and talking about his good-for-nothing son, his ranting becoming less and less focused.

Every time she had asked her father to be more lenient on Timofei, it had only made him angrier that one of his children didn't live up to his expectations.

She wished her brother could be stronger like her. Then there wouldn't be any problem, would there?

 

* * *

 

I looked at the three Warlords, who were watching us from the stands.

Nat had shown up in her now-trademark black-and-gold Danger World coat. Her arms were folded as she scowled down at us.

Tess was still wearing the blue hoodie from earlier. I was beginning to suspect she just had dozens of them in different colors. While she wasn't exactly short her two teammates stood head and shoulders above her. She gave me a cheery wave.

Schwarzschild, their third teammate (who Dave kept calling by his surname despite them being old friends) was also present. He was now wearing a black cloak. Unlike Nat's coat with her world's flag on it, his had a prominent purple eye symbol on the back, like the one on the cover of his core gadget book. He was the one who had addressed Dave.

"Fun fact, we booked the stage for this." said Dave, accusingly.

"Oh, we're well aware of that." said Schwarzschild. Michael, I think his first name was? "It's why we're here, after all."

"Like, the tournament's coming up and you can't blame us for scoping out the competition." said Tess.

"Oh, and this is precious." said the older boy in faux surprise, opening his core gadget and peering at a page on the book. "The brackets for the tournament have been sent to us, and as reigning champions we're on entirely the opposite side from your team."

"So, like, you'd have to get to the finals to fight us." said Tess. "And, like, Dennis' team came second last time, so you have to fight them too? Man, good luck with _that_!" I guess she had a pretty high opinion of the team that had both her girlfriend and a boy she had had a huge crush on.

"Of course, it's unlikely that we'll ever meet in this tournament." said her teammate, closing his book. "Don't you agree, Natasha?"

He looked at his team's leader, waiting for her answer. After a moment of glaring at me silently, she spoke.

"One week." said Nat. She held up one finger on a hand. "I waited one full week after you fought Tess."

"In one week I proved I deserved the loyalty of my buddy." she said, clenching that hand into a fist. "In one week, I defeated every one of the Warlords, and became their rightful leader." She swept her hand to the side, forming her core gadget - a large circular shield. She withdrew her hand from it.

"Was one week with your buddy enough to make your strength worth _anything_?" she said, pointing at me while she met my eyes with an intense gaze.

I hesitated.

I _had_ gotten a lot better at buddyfighting since meeting my friends, and I was getting to be more and more in sync with Tsuki every day. But seeing Nat, in person, feeling her overwhelming aura of power...

I couldn't fight her.

"Hey, don't be like that! You're his sister, aren't you?" Dave said. And in an instant she was holding me off the ground by the front of my hoodie, effortlessly lifting me with one hand. More than disgust, she now had a look of outright _fury_ on her face.

"What did I say to you?" she asked, not even waiting for an answer. "I am not your sister. You are not my brother. Not if you can't defeat me. Even letting your _friends_ say that..." she said, practically snarling the words.

Tsukiusagi appeared from my deck in a fighting stance, her kunai already in hand. "Back off!" she said. I noticed that she was at her full height, a head and shoulders taller than me, rather than shrunk down to the same height as me like she usually was.

Nat gave my buddy a short glance, then dropped me to the ground.

"Your buddy." she said, looking down at me.

"Yeah, so?" said Tsuki, stepping between Nat and myself as I scrambled back to my feet.

Nat sneered at my buddy. An aura of sheer power and cold fury seemed to flow from her. Is this what martial artists called _Killing Intent_?

Tsuki, her white martial arts gear contrasting with Nat's black outfit, looked up at the Warlord. The Skull Warrior wasn't joking around like usual. Though her eyes were hidden behind her mask, she radiated such defiance that I could almost imagine a look of grim determination on her face. I had seen her dive into attacks while cracking jokes before, but she had clearly decided Nat was an opponent worth taking seriously.

They looked at each other in silence for several moments.

Finally, Nat turned away. "Let's go." she said to her teammates, taking off with her buddy skill (forming as gauntlets around her arms) and landing besides them. They started to walk away.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I'm not ready to fight her yet. But maybe after facing Dave's new and improved deck, and may after a couple of tournament matches, I'll be able to psych myself up enough to...

"Hey, Nat!" yelled Dave.

She stopped, turning her head to stare at him over her shoulder. I looked at Dave in shock, wondering what he was playing at.

"Fun fact, I think there's more to this than you're letting on!" Dave held up his core deck case. "Let's buddyfight, you and me, here and now. If I win? You tell us what you're really about!"

She stared at him for a moment. "...Fine." she said.

 

* * *

 

"You can't really be serious about fighting her." I said. "I mean, I know your thing with Schwarzschild was more personal than this, but Nat's _terrifying_ in a buddyfight. We can't... _I_ can't ask you to do this."

Dave grinned. "Fun fact, there's this martial art from the eastern province of Dungeon World called _shung-bat_. Fighters aren't allowed to hit each other with any part of their bodies, and instead they fight with paintbrushes in their hands."

He dropped into a swordfighting stance, the same kind Dennis had used in my buddyfight against him, and moved back and forth as if fencing with an unseen sword. Or a paintbrush, I guess. "The way you score points is by drawing the symbol for 'defeat' on your opponent's forehead - the more stylized, the more points it's worth."

"So you're saying that it's symbolic? That you want to try beating a Warlord because defeating one of them right before the tournament would be as good as winning against all of them?" said Emily.

"No, I'm kind of saying that I can't exactly get worse fighting her and there's nothing at stake for me anyway." said Dave, scratching the back of his head. "Fun fact, she's meant to be the best Danger World fighter in the school, so maybe I'll learn something even if I lose."

"S'yeah, we've got _shung-bat_ in Katana World too. But Dave's wrong about it." said Tsuki. "Mastering it actually makes you a _worse_ fighter because the moves are so different from anything you'd use to win a real fight, and the low stakes makes you get sloppy."

My buddy shrugged. "Pretty cool to watch, though. So knock yourself out."

Throughout this, a thought kept nagging at me. Nat hadn't even bothered to suggest something for if she won this fight. Was she just so dismissive of us that she couldn't conceive of any situation where Dave could win?

 

* * *

 

We sat down in the stands with Nat's teammates. A team that might be tied for bottom-ranked in the academy, and we were next to two-thirds of a team legendary for being nigh-unbeatable. I had fought Nat and Tess myself, and knew that their reputation wasn't even exaggerrated.

“Heyyyy!” said Tess, really rolling the ‘y’ as she waved to Eva and Emily before she sat down.

Eva just nodded slightly in response, probably unsure of what to say to a girl even more overly friendly than our teammates.

"That's a really cute hoodie!" said Emily, clasping her hands together.

"Thanks!" said Tess, grinning. "Like, I can't even flip up the hood when my hair's this long, but they're all really comfy?"

"So, uh, you just always wear them because they're comfortable?" I asked. I mean, I was wearing my own red one like usual, but mine isn't multiple sizes too big.

"You betcha! I know I look great in whatever." she said, flipping her hair back with a grin. "Like, one of my exes let me borrow his once and I never gave it back? Dumped him, kept the hoodie since it was so rad."

The two strongest Danger World fighters I knew were stood on opposite sides of the stage. Though they shared the same flag, they couldn't look more different. Nat, my big sister, towering and muscular, staring down her foe with a look of sneering disgust on her face. Dave, my closest friend, grinning and bouncing around in excitement.

"Stand tall, or be crushed!" snarled Natasha, slamming a fist into her shield. She swept that arm back across her body and her opening hand flew out. "Luminize - Vulgar Display Of Power!"

Dave's core deck case became his staff, which he twirled around in his hands as he spoke his new chant. "I've got a question for you!" He stopped spinning the staff and pulled his cards from the core. "Luminize - Feline Lucky?" he said, changing his tone of voice a little to say the deck name as a question.

"It's time to raise the flag!" said Dave.

"Danger World."/"Danger World!" they said together, hoisting up their respective wolf flags. It looked like Dave was at least taking this one seriously enough to not goof around by letting Sphinxy hold the flag for him, and Nat's buddy hadn't appeared yet.

"Charge and draw." said Nat. "Strong-armed Dragon Iron Caesar, to the center." she said, flinging a card forwards.

A gauge and a card from her deck flew into the duel dragon as he appeared. He was a large humanoid dragon with red and gray scales, and golden horns that almost seemed to form a laurel wreath from the top of his head, albeit at a weird angle and with a third horn in between.

"Hmph. Did you really call me to fight this weakling?." he said, clenching his claws into fists.

"A Hundred Demon?" I asked, not recognizing Iron Caesar from cards Nat had played before. Although her deck name and chant had changed, so she could be fighting with a very different style now.

"Like, yeah?" said Tess. "She didn't run any before, so it was weird how she added them to that deck. I kinda thought she had something against them? She's got Executioners in there, too!" she added, flapping a sleeve towards me.

"Please, Tess." said Schwarzschild. "We wouldn't give away the secrets of _your_ deck."

"Emily pretty much built it, so I don't care." she answered. "So bleh!" she said, sticking out her tongue at her teammate.

"You've changed it a lot since then." admitted Emily. "I know you've tweaked the shield cards, for one. After all, in your fight with Timo..." she started, taking a notebook out of her pocket. Tess giggled, watching Emily flipping through the book.

"Iron Caesar, attack the fighter." said Nat, her arms folded.

"Rubicon Straight!" yelled the duel dragon, naming his attack. He delivered a powerful punch to Dave, who had obviously decided not to block such an early attack - a lot of his stronger cards needed him to be below five life anyway.

"Not bad!" said Dave, grinning. Nat replied with a silent glare.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/2/6 | 10/2/5

"Draw! Charge and draw!" said Dave. He glanced aside to his buddy. "Alright, you're up - I buddy call Armorknight Sphinx 'A' to the right!" he said, pointing his core gadget staff to that side as he threw out a card.

A gauge flew into Sphinxy, and he grew into his evolved form as he leapt forwards. "New and improved!" said the armorknight.

"Fun fact, Sphinxy's traded in his old defensive effect for better stats, and a cool new trick he can do with my weapons! He's even better at protecting me now!" he said. "But you'll get to see that later!" He added with a wink.

"Get on with it." said Nat, the disdain for Dave's shenanigans clear in her voice.

 

* * *

 

"Alright Timofei! My center's clear!" shouted Nat across the card shop's fight stage.

"So, uh..." said Timo, holding a Boulder Piercing Spear in his hands. He looked hesitant to attack his sister.

"Just come over here and attack me directly!" she said.

"But what if..." he started.

"You can't worry about 'what ifs' when you're fighting for Danger World!" she said, trying to encourage him.

He slashed at her with the spear, and her lifepoints ticked down to zero.

"[Winner: Timo Zaitsev.]"

"See, Timofei?" said Nat, patting her brother on the shoulder. "I told you you'd pick it up easily!"

"Haha, yeah." he said, a little nervously.

"Up for another round?" she asked. "I won't go easy on you this time!" she said, flexing.

"Uh, no thanks." he said. "I mean, it's been fun learning to buddyfight, but I've got to get to the library before it closes, and..."

She put an arm around Timo, and gave him a noogie. "Ha, you dork!" she said.

Timo laughed

"Well let's get going, Timofei! But remember - you owe me another fight!"

But the next time they would fight was after she had met her buddy, Gael Khan. And things wouldn't be quite so friendly.

 

* * *

 

"I'll equip my Dangerous Cradle, and I'll pay a gauge to put Demonic Spear Swirling Darkness inside it!" said Dave, the four-pointed star appearing. One of the portals surrounding it now had the serrated purple spear emerging from it.

"Next up, here's Armorknight Salamander, on my left!"

The cyborg lizard appeared, only saying "Mander!"

"Salamander, attack Caesar!" said Dave, pointing his staff at Nat's only monster. A barrage of missiles from Salamander's shoulder-mounted weapon blew the dragon apart.

"Caesar revives with soulguard." said Nat, as Caesar reformed.

"Steel is my body, and iron is my blood!" said Caesar, flexing.

"Sphinxy, you too!" Dave said, raising a fist to encourage his buddy on.

"Conundrum Magazine!" said his armorknight buddy, annihilating Caesar in a hail of laser blasts from his shoulder cannons.

"And fun fact, that frees me up to to attack directly!" said Dave, leaping forwards to point his staff directly at Nat. The spear inside his weapon's portal shot out to strike Nat.

"Fun fact, that's four damage already!" he said. "Next turn my weapon'll have even more critical than your buddy, so watch out!"

"Is that all?" said Nat, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Huh?" said Dave, momentarily confused by how unimportant losing nearly half her life from a single attack had seemed to her. "Yeah, that's the end of my turn."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
9/1/4 | 6/2/5

Nat slammed her fist into the shield floating by her side twice more as she began her turn. "Draw. Charge and draw."

She grabbed a card from her hand, and threw it forwards. "I cast Ritual of Deity Lord Descend - I buddy call Emperor Dragon Gael Khan to the center."

Her gigantic quadrupedal dragon buddy finally appeared, towering over Dave's monsters and both fighters.

 

* * *

 

The self-proclaimed Emperor Dragon had emerged from a card, which she could only guess he had deliberately sent through a portal. It'd be really weird if a Buddy Rare just happened to fall out of someone's pockets in the middle of a forest. Even weirder for her to stumble across it on a camping trip.

"I have seen Yamigedo, the beast that threatened all worlds with his power and his army, the Hundred Demons." said Gael Khan, the massive dragon taking up most of the forest clearing. "I was impressed by his power to bond with a human, and evolve into greater and more terrible forms."

" _I want that power._ " he said, clenching his claw into a massive fist.

"What, you want to control the Hundred Demons?" asked Nat. "That's pretty dumb. They've all quit now, gone back to their worlds or whatever."

"You misunderstand." said the dragon, raising his fist in front of himself. "I want to _evolve_ like he has done. Fight me, and perhaps if you're strong enough to challenge me you can aid me."

Nat cracked her knuckles. "Can't say I've wrestled a dragon bigger than a house before, but there's a first time for everything!" she said, a grin on her face.

Gael Khan looked down at her, arms folded, his sword-like right arm on top. "You shall face me in a buddyfight, as is the custom of your world." he said. His eyes narrowed. "For if you faced me under the martial law of Danger World, you would be utterly destroyed."

 

* * *

 

"The King's Roar destroys all who dare stand against me, whether or not they are my kin!" he declared in his booming voice. He let out a roar, and both Sphinxy and Salamander shattered.

"You can win this, Dave!" yelled his buddy before vanishing.

"You know, I fought against one of the Seven back when I was running Danger World. The scottish guy? Uh, Wrath? I think his actual name was something MacOgre?" The Seven's whole gimmick of changing both their lineup and nicknames every so often made it hard to keep track of what any of them were actually called. "He had Gael Khan in his deck too, but his one didn't talk." That Gael Khan also wasn't some 30 feet tall but that seemed less important somehow.

"It wasn't his buddy." said Eva.

"Huh." I said, surprised at the simplicity of the answer. I guess it did make a lot of sense for it to be like that, though. "So buddy monsters are, what, bigger and smarter?"

"S'yeah TZ, if I wasn't your buddy I'd just be a normal rabbit." said Tsuki.

"Some monsters only really have any personality when they're buddies." said Emily, adjusting her glasses. "Not every monster can easily split themselves like Asmodai, and a lot of Danger World's monsters revert to their instincts if they're not here 'in-person'."

"So, like, you lost against the same monster Nat uses?" asked Tess. "Kinda bogus."

"Not at all. His loss was inevitable." said Schwarzschild. "He only had a starter deck, after all."

"Huh, you guys heard about that?" I said, a little surprised. I didn't expect the top team in the academy to really care about what the worst player at Karras was up to. I wouldn't call myself that _now_ , but I had never actually won a fight with my Danger World deck. Outside of one with Nat when I was first learning, which I was sure she had thrown to make me feel better.

"We shared a chuckle or two over rumors of a player so weak he had never won a single match." he said. "It was child's play to discover that it was you, especially when the tales coincided with our leader's rise to power."

"I kinda hadn't met you back then?" said Tess, a little sheepish. "Like, we thought it was an urban legend or whatever? So it was totally funny."

"I call Violent Dragon Geolga to the right." said Nat, throwing a card out. It became a large green lizard with glowing yellow eyes.

"Eh? Geolga?" said Emily, notebook in hand. "He can only be called when you've got enough different Duel Dragons in your drop zone, so she must have dropped most of her Armorknights from that deck..." she said, writing something down. Speculation about what Nat had in her gauge that filled Geolga's weird call condition, I guess.

She had always been an Armorknight fighter like Dave, before meeting her buddy. Even in her match against that punk-rocker guy she had called out a few to fight for her. Was her fighting style changing to better suit Gael Khan's attribute?

"Geolga, attack the fighter." said Nat. The lizard lashed out at Dave with a bizarrely long tongue.

"Fun fact, that's pretty gross!" laughed Dave.

Nat glowered at him. "My buddy, Gael Khan." She clenched a fist in front of herself. "Attack."

"Despot's Legacy!" said Gael Khan. He swung his sword-like right arm down onto Dave, kicking up dust all around my friend. I guess Nat's buddy reserved crushing opponents in his left claw for finishing attacks.

After a few moments of Nat staring at the dust cloud, arms crossed, the air cleared. Dave was leaning against his core gadget staff, apparently knocked off his feet by the sheer force of the attack, even if he couldn't truly be hurt by it.

"That's one hell of an attack! Fun fact, even Rain's Meteor Smash doesn't hit that hard!" he said with a smile. "You really are strong - it's gonna be pretty tricky to beat you!"

"Are you stronger than _him_?" asked Nat, tilting her head slightly as she practically spat the words. "Do you think you're stronger than _me_?"

"Hey, whether or not I'm stronger than you I'm having a lot of fun." replied Dave. "Fun fact, "

"Is that why you're fighting? For _fun_?"

Dave shrugged. "Eh, usually? I mean, Buddyfight's all about having fun. But fun fact? This time I'm kinda fighting for Timo." he answered.

Dave had stepped up to fight her when I couldn't, and I was pretty grateful about that. With friends like him backing me up, I was starting to feel that fighting Nat and actually winning wasn't impossible.

"What about you, though? What are you fighting for?" he asked.

Nat narrowed her eyes in response, but said nothing.

"And fun fact? I fought Schwarzschild last week." said Dave, holding up one finger. "He said you never told your team why you took over, but he had a pretty weird guess." Dave twirled his staff, and pointed it at Nat. "He said you wanted this to become a brutal school where people fight over everything, where only the strongest buddyfighters get anything."

"Is that so." said Nat flatly, raising an eyebrow. She gave a sidelong glance to her teammate, the boy sitting nearby us in the stands. "Michael."

Schwarzschild shook his head, a condescending smile on his face. "I assure you, I don't know what he's talking about."

She looked back at Dave. "If that's what he told you. If he said my goal was to see this school ruled by the strongest." said Nat. She shot a glance in my direction (or maybe at her teammates again?), and turned her head slightly to look at the crowd of students who had gathered in the stands to watch her fight. She glared at Dave.

" _Then he was exactly right!_ " she snarled.

"Eh?" said Tess, looking surprised. She looked at Nat, then at her other teammate, then back and forth a few times. "Like, that's seriously it?"

Nat turned to meet her gaze, as if daring Tess to say something more. They stared at each other in silence, confusion meeting cold anger.

"W-well, whatever!" said Tess as she looked away, uncharacteristically sheepish before the fury of her team's leader.

"My turn ends." said Nat

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/1/4 | 7/1/3

"Huh. Guess that answers that, then." said Dave. "So that's why you didn't want me to bet anything."

She must have been planning to make a declaration like that in front of the steadily-growing crowd that were gathering to watch the fight. Probably after she had won, rather than in the middle of the fight. Was she just seeing this as a chance to push her strange agenda?

Dave twirled his staff in one hand, stopping to pull his cards from it "Draw! Charge and draw! Alright!"

"I cast Dangerous Bed of Damage!" he said. "Fun fact, I can destroy one of your monsters, and get gauge equal to its size!"

Emily gasped in delight. "This could turn the whole game around!" she said. "He could destroy Gael Khan _and_ get three gauge!"

I nodded. "Her buddy doesn't have any defensive effects, and Danger World needs the center open to cast anything that could protect him!" Could Dave actually do what I couldn't, and beat Nat with her own world? My friend had been buddyfighting for years, and with his newly evolved buddy, he had a real shot at it!

"As if she needs her buddy on the field to win." said Schwarzschild.

"Yeah!" said Tess, having recovered quickly from Nat's declaration. "Her deck can totally get even stronger after he's gone!"

Schwarzschild tutted, wagging a finger at his teammate. "Now, now. That would be telling."

Flickering tendrils of energy rose up from the floor, grabbing onto Gael Khan's four legs. The color seemed to drain out of him.

"Fun fact, Dangerous Bed is a dual card with Dungeon World, the world I grew up fighting for!" said Dave. "And like my Dangerous Cradle it's not the kind of bed you'd want to sleep in!" he said with a wink.

"I will be avenged." said Gael Khan, shattering. Three cards flew into Dave's gauge.

"Next up, here's Armorknight Werewolf, on my right!" said Dave.

A grey-furred wolf-man appeared. Like Robbie's buddy, Ferrocious, it was partially armored and bipedal. Metallic blue pants, gauntlets, chestplate and even some plating for the top of his head. Very much unlike the Monster Mash, buddy he had a belt-fed machinegun mounted on his back.

"Hey hey hey, what's up!" said Werewolf, turning to Dave and raising a claw in greetings. "What d'ya need me for?"

"Fun fact, Werewolf can put any card from my drop zone into the soul of my Dangerous Cradle!" said Dave. He addressed the monster directly, "Hey, could you get my buddy for me?" he said with a wink.

"No sweat!" said Werewolf. He howled, and one of Dave's gauge turned in a star, which floated into Dave's Dangerous Cradle. Sphinxy popped his head and one paw out of one of the portals, giving a wave to us.

"Fun fact, my buddy has a special effect when he's in the soul of a weapon!" said Dave. "He's the reason I don't need to guard my center!"

"Really." said Nat.

"But hey, I've got the rest of my turn to take." said Dave. "Dangerous Cradle moves Hundred Demons Spear Aratogame to the soul!" he said, paying a gauge and pulling another weapon from his drop zone. "Sphinxy's not a weapon so he doesn't add to my Cradle, but fun fact? That's seven critical, right now!"

"That's enough to put her on 0 life!" I said, leaning forward in my seat. He's really doing it!

"She has three hand cards." said Eva quietly, shaking her head slightly. "A shield is likely."

"But that's not all! I call Armorknight Black Drake 'A' to the left!"

A large humanoid dragon made of grey metal appeared. Like the other Armorknights he had weapons build into his body - a double-barrelled gun (two flamethrowers?) on his left arm and a battery of laser weaponry on each shoulder, among others. His weapons were all green.

"Stick around, things are really starting to _cook_!" said Drake.

"Fun fact, Black Drake 'A' is a size 3 monster like your buddy!" said Dave, pointing his staff at the new monster. "But his size drops by one for every soul in a card on my field!" he said with a grin, shouldering his core gadget so it was now pointing at the rotating portals of his Dangerous Cradle.

"Swirling Darkness, Aratogame and Sphinx 'A'." said Schwarzschild. He pushed up his glasses. "Any true buddyfighter should have been able to keep track of that, of course."

"Now here comes my direct attack!" said Dave, leaping forwards to run at Nat with the Cradle floating beside him. "Fun fact, you really want to stop this one!"

"Cast - Demon Slay Circle." said Nat, punching forward with one fist. A burst of energy from it blew Dave backwards. "Your attack is _useless_ , and I gain a lifepoint." she said, folding her arms again.

"Not bad!" said Dave, regaining his footing back on his side of the field. "Black Drake, attack the fighter!"

"Feel the burn!" said Drake, blasting Nat with a gout of fire from his flamethrower. She raised her arms in front of her face as if to protect herself from the heat.

"And since my weapon's got three soul, he can attack again! Double attack on the fighter!" said Dave.

Black Drake leapt forwards to punch at Nat with some strange green weapon on his other arm. This time she didn't so much as flinch at the strike.

"Werewolf, you're up! Attack Geolga!"

"Packing Heat!" said Werewolf, dropping on all fours to brace himself against the recoil of the gun on his back, which whirred into action and blew the Duel Dragon away in a hail of bullets.

"That's all for my turn! You're really strong, but fun fact?" said Dave. "I know this is the closest you've come to losing in a _long time_." he added with a wink.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/2/2 | 4/0/2

"She's on four life and down to two hand cards!" said Emily.

"And Dave destroyed every card on her field!" I said. I could hardly believe it, but there might be a buddyfighter stronger than Nat. And if it was Dave, my friend and teammate who had taught me so much about the game, maybe I could stand up to her deck myself!

"Strong?" spat Natasha, in reply to Dave. "You know nothing of strength, _little boy_. With my fists alone, I survived in the wastelands of Danger World!"

Wait, what?

 

* * *

 

"[Winner: Emperor Dragon Gael Khan]"

Gael Khan dropped Natasha from his claw, the axe in her hand fading away as the fight ended. Nat scrambled to her feet, out of breath from an intense battle.

"That was... I barely landed a hit on you!" she said, eyes wide in disbelief. "You didn't just control those monsters, you ruled over them! Like a..."

"Like an _Emperor_." said Gael Khan, clenching his massive claw into a fist, which he swept aside. "A conquering general who rules over the wastelands of Danger World with an iron fist, and an iron blade!"

"Yeah? Well, not everything's about how strong you are!" she shouted. If it was, there wouldn't be many people at Karras who could beat her in a buddyfight, and even fewer people in the world who could defeat her father. And so neither her nor Timo would ever be able to escape from the shadow of that man, who so despised weakness.

"The reason you lost is that buddyfight, like all things, truly is about 'power'." said the Emperor Dragon. "But not just my own physical strength. Every monster that fought for me is one that I defeated, or that those who follow me have defeated. I have shown all of them my strength, and in turn they added to it."

"Just like the Warlords..." said Nat.

"The Warlords, you say?" asked Gael Khan.

"A team from the academy... they follow the rule that anyone who defeats them all has to become their leader." she answered.

"These self-proclaimed 'Warlords' may be worthy of joining my cause." he said, stroking his chin with a claw. "But that is a matter for another time."

He lowered his sword-arm to point down at Nat, towering over her.

"One week." he said. "Gather together your forces by defeating each in a martial contest. Duel Dragons, Armorknight, Tyrants, I care not - any within my dominion who can be defeated are yours to command. We shall battle again, in one week, and you will show whether or not you are worthy of becoming my buddy."

 

* * *

 

As if to emphasise that she wasn't out of the game Nat thumped a fist against her shield, beginning her turn. "Draw. Charge and draw."

She held a card out. "Cast - Demon Slay Come Forth!" Three cards shot out of her deck in front of her. She grabbed one, and the others dissolved. "I increase my gauge by one, and add Invoke Impetuous Deity Hibakara to my hand." She flung the card into the air. "I equip Hibakara."

Equip didn't look like the right word - her item seemed to manifest out of the air beside her. It became the figure of a blue woman, or at least most of one - everything below the waist was indistinct. The figure, presumably called Hibakara, looked like an asura. She had five sets of arms, each with a bracer, each ending in a hand curled into a fist. Atop her head was a helmet with intricate carvings, long hair flowing out from under it and curling through the air with every slight motion. Beaded necklaces hung from her neck. Her face had an expression of anger, fangs bared beneath eyes glowing a brighter blue.

"This vision of true power that stands beside me will crush you." said Nat. "I move Gael Khan from my drop zone to Hibakara's soul."

"A soulguard item?" I said, wondering if this was a hint at some deeper strategy we hadn't yet seen from her deck. Did her deck use 'A' cards, like Dave's?

"Her item prevents calls to her center." noted Eva.

"Uh, that's kind of weird." I said. "When she fought me, her buddy stayed in the center for almost the whole fight. I couldn't get past his 10000 defense in time. But a deck that can only ever have an open center is kind of the opposite of that?"

I had even thought that maybe the core gadget, the shield still floating beside her, symbolized a defensive playstyle. Although the one other fighter I had faced with a similar one, Dennis, had also played a deck that defended against attacks by just wiping the field clear, so I wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

Schwarzschild smirked. "Isn't it obvious? Her power and skill have grown far beyond the level she needed to effortlessly defeat you. Her deck isn't guarding the center because _she doesn't need to be guarded_."

"I call Armorknight Dragon Earthshaker to the right, and Clash Deity Dragon Gaelcorga Ark to the left." she said.

The armored dragon on her right was, as his name suggested, a Duel Dragon wearing the armor of an Armorknight. The bipedal red dragon's metal armor was covered in drills and the black-and-yellow stripes common to so many monsters from Danger World. His left fist was robotic.

Gaelcorga, the other dragon she had just called, reared up on his back legs to roar, exposing the jagged teeth in his mouth. His body was mostly yellowish scales, with strange protrusions of bone protecting his forearms, knees and shoulders. His head had a mane of hair with horns sticking out seemingly at random.

"Earthshaker gains extra effects from the other monsters I control." said Nat, raising her right arm, her hand in a fist. "As long as I have another Duel Dragon, he has Double Attack." She raised her left arm, as if to indicate her Gaelcorga.

Double attack, her other monster and her weapon...

"Wait, four attacks?" I said, my eyes widening as I realized what Nat was implying. "Even if Dave stops all of those with his buddy..."

"He won't have a single lifepoint left!" said Emily, sounding worried.

"Emily, I know you're rockin' at deckbuilding, it'll work out." said Tess, flailing a sleeve in Emily's direction. "Like, he probably has shields for some of them?"

"Tsk tsk. Now really, which side are you on?" said Schwarzschild to his teammate.

Tess laughed. "Like, I'm still rooting for Nat? No way she'll lose here! She hasn't even lost a tuning match since she joined us! She's _crazy_ strong, and I don't just mean she can bench-press all of us!" she said, puffing out her cheeks and raising her hands in fists. "It's always 'crush them' and 'pathetic weaklings!' from her!" she said, slipping into my sister's voice again. "She'd be kinda cool, if she wasn’t so scary?"

 

* * *

 

"[Winner: Natasha Zaitsev]"

Nat was out of breath again, after her second battle against the Emperor Dragon. It had been an utterly exhausting week walking the wastes of Danger World, battling every monster she encountered - first with her fists, but as she gathered more together she could challenge some to buddyfights.

It hadn't been easy. Even the first ones she had defeated, a small band of Armorknights, were still an unbelievably dangerous fight for a human. Even one as strong as her, who had wrestled with her father's Armorknight Polarbear, who had been taught to survive in the wild on her father's insane camping trips, who took pride in her position as the strongest student in the wrestling club.

Danger World was _huge_ compared to Earth, but with only a fraction of the space her home world had that could support anything like human civilization. The few hospitable areas were heavily fortified from the elements and the legions of monsters, leaving everyone and everything else to wander the war-torn ruins of a once-vibrant world in search of resources. A world where food and water were scarce but entire mountains of weaponry blighted the landscape was no place for a teenage girl, but nonetheless she had prospered.

She had barely gotten any rest or even anything to eat for most of that week. Until suddenly her deck - no, her warband - had reached a critical mass where they could fend off other roving groups of monsters, where those who followed her would themselves subjugate more to increase their number. Instead of stealing her food or trying to assassinate her in her sleep most of them followed her every order. But by that point she had learned that the monsters of Danger World would ruthlessly try to exploit any sign of weakness they saw.

The Duel Dragons had tried to eat the Armorknights. The Armorknights had tried to wipe out the Duel Dragons. Even Nat herself had came to blows with the Tyrants who were meant to be her loyal supporters. Her friendly demeanour faded, giving way to a harsh and cruel manner of speech. Any attempt at insubordination was answered with sheer brute force.

"Do you see now? All bonds, of friends, of family, of species, are _meaningless_ without power." said Gael Khan. "As their warlord, you can not show any weakness or they will devour you. You must impose a martial law with your fists, or those of your subordinates."

"I understand now." she said, her eyes duller than they were when she came to Danger World. The irreverence and playfulness were gone from her voice, too. "This is the martial law of Danger World."

"Violence is the only language some beasts speak, and must be answered with violence. For that is the rule all beasts obey!" shouted Gael Khan.

"Violence... for violence..." she started.

"You have become strong." he declared. "Strong enough to be my buddy. And strong enough that the path before you is clear."

The path before her - Conquer the Warlords, conquer Karras Academy, spread the Rule Of Beasts into the world of humans.

And... even with all of that, she thought about her brother. If Timo was strong in this way, he'd be safe. All he had to do was be strong enough to defeat her and her power would be his, right?

She’d have to fight him along the way. Her father too. If they weren’t strong enough to face her, she couldn’t consider them family.

 

* * *

 

"Gaelcorga Ark." said Nat, as if on cue. Her arms were folded as she stared across the stage at my friend. "Attack the fighter."

The dragon screeched as it rushed forwards, raising a hand to strike at Dave.

"Cast - Shredding Battle Wall!" said Dave, raising his staff in the air as the dragon was blasted backwards by a red aura radiating from my teammate. "That stops your attack, and gives me back a lifepoint!"

"He's really going to need that extra life to survive this!" said Emily.

"Earthshaker!" snarled Nat, arms still crossed. "Attack the fighter!"

"Give me the strength to split the world in two!" yelled the armored dragon, leaping forwards. He landing in the center of the fight stage, cracking his knuckles as he prepared to attack.

"Fun fact, it's time to show off my buddy's cool new power!" said Dave, grinning. "So listen up, because it's pretty amazing!"

"Your buddy's evolved power." said Nat. "Is this what you think is enough to match my strength?"

Dave laughed. "I don't know if it's enough to beat you, but here's how it works." He twirled his staff, and pointed it at the part of his Dangerous Cradle that we knew contained his buddy. "As long as my buddy's in the soul of my weapon, I can pay one lifepoint every time I'm attacked!"

His lifepoint counter appeared, ticking down to 3 as he spoke.

"When I do, we play rock-paper-scissors to decide where that lifepoint goes!" he said. "Fun fact? If I win, the attack stops right there and that lifepoint turns into a point of direct damage!"

"And what if I win?" said Nat, narrowing her eyes.

He shrugged. "I get the lifepoint back, and your attack goes through. So, like, I said, _feline_ lucky?" he said with a wink.

Schwarzschild chuckled. "Is that all?"

"Uh, his buddy's power stops basically half of all attacks?" I said, a little defensively. "I don't know how it can get much better."

My friend's buddy had been really tricky in tuning matches - I had to destroy his Dangerous Cradle to get past Sphinxy's new power, or risk every attack being reflected back at me. Emily had used those fights to refine that deck even more, trimming out cards that were no longer as useful with Dave's buddy hidden inside his weapon.

"Tsk tsk." replied Schwarzschild. "It has enough drawbacks to make it next to worthless. After all, if he gambles and loses then he can't use a shield spell."

"Oh, huh." I said. I hadn't thought of that - of course he'd only be able to use one Counter effect when attacked, which meant he had to go all-in on his gamble.

"But even putting that aside, he'd need to win multiple subgames in a row. It's impossible to rely on winning even one of those." The older boy shook his head. "Of course he'd name his team to embody 'luck', to support his unreliable buddy. On the other hand, the Warlords are named to embody 'strength'."

"Yeah!" said Tess, actually agreeing with a teammate I had gotten the solid impression she didn't actually like. "Like, we're totally the strongest team! And I totally love everyone knowing I'm one of the strongest buddyfighters there is!" She laughed. "Because if I'm on the strongest team I can be who I want to be, and do what I wanna do!"

"The Warlords don't tolerate weakness, of course." said Schwarzschild. "None of us have lost a single match since our new leader joined, except for tuning matches amongst us. Losing to something as avoidable as running a rock-paper-scissors card? Well, that's simply unthinkable." he said with a smirk.

"Huh. You've... really got something against gamble cards?" I said.

"I direct the various productions put on by our drama club." he replied. "Imagine if the actor playing Laertes somehow won his sword duel, if instead of a perfectly executed exchange of weapons some random and clumsy movements gave rise to an unexpected outcome." He shook his head. "Why, the actors wouldn't know what to do. The whole play could be ruined."

He pushed up his glasses. "To me, risking the outcome of a Buddyfight on something as banal as a game of sheer luck would be exactly as _unforgivable_ as the superior swordsman losing a fight even when he is scripted to prosper."

"Uh, Laertes... That's from Hamlet, isn't it?" I said. I had read a few of Shakespeare's plays, though even I thought they were a little difficult to understand just from books. They felt like the kind of thing you really had to see on stage.

"Well well, I had thought you were a philistine like your friends, but you're at least familiar with the bard's work." said Schwarzschild. "Neither of my teammates even have that level of taste." he added, with a smirk on his face.

I was kind of getting why Dave thought this guy was a jerk. His cultured tone and careful choice of words didn't hide his sheer contempt for everyone he was speaking to.

Tess rolled her eyes at her teammate. "Ugh."

"Well?" said Dave. "Rock, paper..."

"Scissors!" he said, actually throwing scissors as he did. Nat silently threw paper. Dave's throw shattered hers.

"And Sphinxy's new effect kicks in!" he said, as one of his buddy's laser guns emerged from the Cradle. It fired a shot at Nat, and she grimaced as her lifepoints went down.

"Earthshaker." she said. She pointed a finger at Dave. "Double Attack."

"Fun fact, I can keep doing this as long as I've got the lifepoints!" he said, grinning as he raised a hand in the air. "Rock, paper..."

"Rock."/"Rock!" they said in unison, their mechanical fists colliding against each other and both shattering.

"Nice!" said Dave. "But fun fact, in Danger World we keep playing until there's a winner! So one more time - rock, paper..."

"Rock." said Nat again, her fist smashing through Dave's throw of scissors.

"Aw snap, I guess that means..."

"Bone Breaker!" yelled Nat's monster, calling out his attack name as he landed a solid punch on Dave.

"Oh no!" gasped Emily. "He's only got one lifepoint left! And if his last card isn't a shield..." she said, trailing off.

"He can't use his buddy's effect." said Eva.

"Hibakara." said Nat, folding her arms. The blue spirit behind her circled its many limbs in anticipation. "Attack the fighter!" she sneered.

Two cards flew out of her deck and dissolved as Hibakara floated forwards towards Dave, seemingly growing in size as it did.

Hibakara opened its mouth to yell as it let loose a seemingly endless barrage of punches on my teammate. "KA RA RA RA RA RA RA RA RA!"

Dave's Danger World flag shattered as he fell backwards.

"[Winner: Natasha Zaitsev.]"

She looked at the students who had gathered to watch the fight. Maybe half the school had shown up for this, the last fight this stage would see before the tournament began.

"This is my power - the unbreakable strength of a Warlord." said Nat, Hibakara still floating behind her as she addressed the crowd. "And all who face us..."

She raised a clenched fist. Hibakara mirrored her movements with one of its many hands. "...Will be crushed!" she finished.

 

* * *

 

"So, what did we learn from that fight?" said Emily, a notebook in one hand as she clicked a mechanical pencil in the other.

"Fun fact, we learned Gael Khan _hits like a truck_!" said Dave.

Emily giggled. "Not quite what I meant, Dave, but worth noting." she said, scrawling it down.

"Duel Dragons. Dropzone synergy. An open center." said Eva. Emily nodded, writing it down.

"Uh, I know Nat builds her own decks, and she's not exactly bad at that?" I said. "So if she's running that item card - Hibakara? It's probably pretty important."

"Okay, that's good!" said Emily. "Knowing Tess is the only one of them who didn't fully build her own deck raises some interesting thoughts. What else?" she said, looking up from her notes.

"The Warlords. Their entire team." said Eva. "They hate each other." she said, flatly.

"Huh, no kidding." said Dave.

Emily looked thoughtful, tapping the pencil against her cheek. "Tess did say she had a falling out with her two former teammates."

"Plus, yeah, they don't really seem to be friends with Nat." I said. "It's more that they think she's their best shot at winning."

"Fun fact, they're not exactly wrong." said Dave. "She's a pretty incredible fighter. I don't think I've ever went up against a Danger World fighter who was that good before."

"So, uh, do you think that'll mess with their odds of winning?" I asked Eva. "I mean, if the team's barely holding together..."

She shook her head. "They are too determined. If they win the tournament, they will never back down." She swept her hair away from her covered eye. "But they'll only grow to hate each other more."

"That's so sad." said Emily, wringing her hands in worry. "I don't know about the others, but Tess doesn't deserve to be on a team that can't stand each other."

I thought about how Nat didn't really deserve that either. Well, Nat as I had known her before all of this. I really was going to have to fight her to get to the bottom of this. Dave had faced her in my place this time, but I had to do it myself if we made it to the finals.

"Well, we've got a lot to think about." I said. Or rather, a lot I didn't want to think about. "So, uh, let's just try to enjoy movie night, okay?"

 

* * *

 

"Now then, the main threats in this tournament are likely to be Team Shining Knights, the student council's Team Deadly Seven, and newcomers Team Serendipity." said Schwarzschild, bringing up the pictures each group submitted as part of their registration.

"The Shining Knights are..." he started before Natasha cut him off.

"I don't care." she said, glaring at him.

"Oh?"

"Like, this is a major waste of time." said Tess, rolling her eyes. "We totally know about these guys already."

Natasha stood up, and walked to the side of the screen. She pointed at Timo's picture on the screen, where he was standing beside Tsukiusagi, who was making a bunny-ears hand gesture behind his head.

"I will fight him." she said. "I don't care who you want to fight. Work it out yourselves."

She walked out without another word.

"Sheesh, talk about harsh vibes. If she's not sticking around I'm bailing too. Laters." said Tess, walking out of the room.

Schwarzschild watched them both leave in silence.

Lelag Monarch emerged from his card. "So much for your team meeting, hehehe." he said, in his high-pitched voice.

"I had hoped they would take this as seriously as myself. I suppose they don't realise exactly what is at stake." Schwarzschild pushed up his glasses.

His buddy stared at him through his horned mask. "And you've kept that prize in your mind." The monster jabbed a finger in his direction. "That _secret artifact_ from Dungeon World, still intact after all the years I have been sealed away, which could grant _unlimited energy_ to the holder. The grand relic I promised to reveal to you if you keep the Vervayens heir from winning!"

"Of course." said Schwarzschild. "I always side with the strongest, but if I had that artifact that would simply be myself."

"It was almost disappointing that you tried to scare him away from fighting." said Lelag Monarch. "You knew he'd never join your team."

"If he had joined, I'd have failed to uphold my deal with you right then and there." The boy smirked. "It wouldn't have been a problem for myself, of course. If the spoiled prince of Dungeon World had never forsaken his birthright by becoming the buddy of a common _Armorknight_ , if he had simply became the buddy of Joker Grunwald, I would have been content to fill the role of a grand vizier."

Schwarzschild chuckled. "Of course, I know him well enough that it's no longer a possibility. Although destabilizing his team would have been worth the effort."

He swiped through messages on his phone. Ones he had sent over the past month in an attempt to do just that to other teams.

Weeks ago, he sad sent one to an old teammate. "Johnny, I feel like we should discuss your brother's recruiting methods. If you could discuss recruiting more aggressively with him - say, 20 or so unaffiliated fighters - I'd vouch for you having another chance to rejoin the Warlords."

There were far fewer teams in this year's tournament, even if there were as many entrants as usual. The success of his meeting with the more level-headed Thompson brother had indirectly given him a glimpse into how Natasha thought, and that trying to directly deal with her younger sibling would be too noticeable for now.

Just last week, he had sent one to an old ally, who had been aided in her takeover of a club by Enterprise last year in exchange for copious amount of articles about the Warlords, all portraying them as a nigh-unbeatable team. "Nina, I will call the favor for your teammate's costume repaid if you replace one horoscope entry for this week, no questions asked. Gemini: Today is a good day to confess to your teammate."

Dealing with the sharp-dressed head of the newspaper club was always risky. But an earlier attempt, a horoscope that said "In the upcoming month wearing a scarf with polkadots will bring you good fortune", had led to an incredible success - Cassandra Gemini really did follow whatever was in horoscope. With some luck this could have lead to a fallout between members of the team he considered second-best in the academy, the Shining Knights. It didn't work out fully as intended, but it wouldn't be traced back to the Warlords.

Regrettably none of his efforts had made teams as antagonistic towards their own members as the Warlords had become. Most of Trash hated the Thompson brothers even before his interference, but the other teams all seemed closer than ever. What was so different about them?

 

* * *

 

"I challenge you. When I've crushed you all, you will make me your leader." said Natasha, arms crossed as she stared down the Warlords. Her buddy loomed silently behind her.

Having fought and effortlessly defeated her brother, then her father, she sought the next of her goals - taking over the Warlords.

"Some low level _noob_ wants to fight us? Fine - Let's do this!" said Johnny, the core deck case in his hand transforming into his bass guitar.

"Naturally as the strongest team we accept all challenges." said Schwarzschild, pushing up his glasses.

"Like, this could be fun?" said Tess, grinning. "Dibs on second round if Johnny loses!"

 

* * *

 

The phone buzzed with a new message - one of his former teammates, since graduated, was planning to attend the tournament. He shook his head and put the phone away.

"I would ask what your own goal is, but I know you've no desire to tell me. Our purposes coincide, and that is enough for the moment." said the boy.

"It shall remain my secret for now." said the demon lord, laughing as he returned to his card. "Hehehe, all will be revealed in time."

 

* * *

 

"Which means the murderer... was her own future self!" declared Taylor Dragon.

The blue-haired magical girl was wearing the futuristic blue-and-white Neodragon-esque armor she gained from crossnizing with her buddy, Omega Big Bang.

Dave and Emily were on the floor to get closer to the TV, practically squeeing in excitement over the climax of this strange time-travel murder mystery. I looked over at Eva, who had remained on the couch with me, wondering if she'd be even a little puzzled by it. However, she was watching the movie intently as well - Emily did say she was a fan of this show as well.

I shrugged, and ate some popcorn.

 

* * *

 

"I shall avenge my brother the only way I know - with my _hanzo steel_!" said a poorly-dubbed samurai, drawing his sword.

"I fought a guy like this once. Super lame, kept spamming the overhead sword swing." said Tsuki, who had joined us for this movie. We had actually picked this one out together, with her sounding genuinely curious about how swordfighting techniques from Earth matched up to those of Katana World.

Unfortunately she wasn't watching this tale of ronin in feudal Japan for the action, but instead to comment on fights she had supposedly been in. Currently she was draped over the back of the couch, watching the movie upside-down.

"Fun fact, one of Emily's moms is a world-class swordfighter. Olympics and everything." said Dave, popping some popcorn in his mouth.

"It's not like she uses katanas." said Emily. "She's a fencer."

"Guess that's where your bro gets it from." said Tsuki. She had been on the receiving end of Dennis' sword attacks when we fought him.

"My other mom's a botanist. Everyone says I take after her more." said Emily, adjusting her glasses.

"Fun fact, I've never actually fought Jackie Primrose." said Dave. "She only fights on their tag team."

"But they're both cool ladies!" said Sphinxy.

Emily giggled, and launched into an explanation of tag-fighting synergies. "That's because her deck is all about supporting another deck using Magic World's powerful Great Spells. Tag team buddyfight is a really interesting design space because you can use a lot of cards that'd normally be underpowered, you can run decks with no win condition of their own, you can even..."

She shook her head suddenly. "Ah, no! Sorry, I'm rambling again." she said apologetically, waving her hands. "You don't want to hear me going on about deckbuilding theory. We're here to watch a movie, after all."

I laughed. "Don't worry about it, even Tsuki's barely paying attention to it any more." I said. "I mean, this is kind of us hanging out as a team, and it's pretty interesting hearing about your family."

"Oh, that's right!" said Emily, clasping her hands together. "You and Eva haven't met my moms yet!"

Dave shrugged. "They'll be in town again eventually. Fun fact, they wander around a lot."

"Papa wanders a lot too." said Eva.

"Uh, he's off filming movies in other worlds, right?" I asked, and was answered with a silent nod. "Huh. What kind of movies?"

 

* * *

 

"The thing is, my seven evil exes? They're the seven ghosts haunting this amusement park, and if we don't seal them away before sunrise we'll be trapped here with them... for all eternity!"

"Uh, this wasn't a genre combination I was expecting." I whispered to Dave. The opening credits did indeed say the director was Jacob Friday, but I guess I had expected her dad to make a more traditional horror film.

One of the seven 'ghosts', the one with no lines and the fewest scenes, was very clearly Kardor (who had been absent for the movie night). "So this was Eva's pick?" I asked.

"Fun fact? It kind-of isn't. _Emily_ asked for this one." replied Dave, smiling slyly. "Well, this genre, I guess?"

"Huh. I wonder why?"

After a while, I realized why Emily had picked a movie with scary parts - Eva didn't mind putting an arm around her to calm her when something made her jump.

 

* * *

 

We never got to the end of Eva's actual pick, some old stop-motion movie involving a mirror world where people had buttons for eyes. After three and a half films and a lot of talking between us Emily had dozed off with her head on Eva's shoulder, and Eva had in turn shut her eyes. Sphinxy was curled up beside them on the couch.

Dave and I just shared a shrug. We didn't want to wake them right now. Instead, we put out a sleeping bag on Dave's bedroom floor so I had somewhere to sleep during this impromptu sleepover.

The walls of Dave's room were covered with posters. Famous buddyfighters, soccer players, the magical girls from Taylor Dragon, even one of a Japanese idol group who had all buddied some giant Brave Machines from Hero World (who they were standing in front of).

Dave quickly fell asleep, snoring loudly.

Seeing Dave and my other friends this relaxed and happy, even after facing Nat in-person, filled me with a new resolve. Next time I wouldn't let them down. When we got to the finals, I'd do my best to defeat Nat.

I just had to be stronger, like my friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Armorknight Sphinx "A"  
> Size 2 Monster / Danger World / Armorknight / 6000 Power /2 Criticals /6000 Defense  
> [Call Cost] [Pay 1 gauge]  
> [Act] Put this card on your field into the soul of a «Weapon» on your field.  
> [Counter][Act] When you are attacked, if this card is in the soul of your «Weapon», you may pay 1 life. If you do, play "Rock-Paper-Scissors" with your opponent. If you win, nullify the attack, and deal 1 damage to your opponent! If you lose, you gain 1 life!  
> If your life is 5 or less, this card gets [Double Attack], then, if there are three or more souls in items on your field, this card gets critical+1.


	14. Total Party Kill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the very first fight of the Karras Cup, and Timo finds himself up against Johnny Thompson's Dungeon World deck. Will this adventuring party (both literal and figurative) be more than he can handle?

"It's the big day, TZ!" said Tsuki. "You ready to go up against the strongest fighters in the academy?"

"Uh, when you put it that way, maybe I'm not so sure." I joked.

"Relax, TZ. You've got me on your side - how can you lose?"

We walked past an older girl with bushy dark-purple hair. She had a pair of goggles in her hair - unlike Emily's clear ones these were tinted and a lot bulkier, more like the type a motorcyclist might wear.

"I've come this far, Mode. I should at least check in on them." said the girl, although I couldn't see anyone she could be talking to. "Our old team still have the same name, if nothing else."

I was about to ask Tsukiusagi if she had any idea what her deal was when I realized this girl must be talking to her buddy, in her core deck case. Of course there were a lot more buddyfighters around today - this was a pretty big event in Academy City after all, which already had a lot of buddyfighters. So of course they'd bring their buddies with them, and a lot of buddy monsters were a lot less human-looking than Tsuki.

It was hard to imagine Nat walking to class with her gigantic Duel Dragon buddy, and even shrunk down the spiky centaur dragon would probably look strange. Even on my own team Tsuki was the only monster who could walk around in her regular form without looking alarming.

 

* * *

 

"Welcome to the Karras Cup! I'm Sarah Wyndham, fashion club announcer and the academy's one and only Forest World fighter! I'll be giving a running commentary on this tournament's fights, along with some special guests!"

"And we've got a great lineup this time around! Returning champs, The Warlords!"

Tess smiled cheerfully, and waved her sleeves at the crowd. Schwarzschild raised a single hand in acknowledgement, a smirk on his face. Nat stood with her arms crossed, sneering at the crowd.

"Back for another try, and with some snazzy new outfits, Hotline!"

I had met Team Hotline before, although the girls didn't have the full-face masks they were wearing now. They were all Darkness Dragon World users who had a weird gimmick where they wore oversized masks of their buddies - Death Ruler Galkheight, Black Dragon G and Death Wizard Dragon. The three of them were standing in a line, wearing their full costumes and snapping their fingers in a regular rhythm.

"The student council's Seven are back as always this year, and it looks like their theme this time is the Seven Sins! It doesn't look like you've got a full lineup, Claude!"

An older blonde boy, sitting on a core gadget that resembled a golden throne, waved to the cheering crowd. He was laughing out loud at the remark about his team. He had a sash with the word Pride on it in gold lettering. Two boys and two girls stood around him - they were wearing similar sashes for Wrath, Envy, Gluttony and Greed. I recognized Wrath as the Danger World fighter from Scotland (unmistakable from his core gadget - a set of bagpipes), but only vaguely knew the others as student council members. The one other visible core gadget was a tiara on the head of one of the girls.

"Formerly Team Catwalk, here's Meow Formation and their cat buddies! I'm rooting for you girls! Don't let the Fashion Club down!"

Three pretty girls, two of them in my year and one of them a year above, struck poses. All three of them were dressed very fashionably. An Armorknight Tiger, a Cat Shadow Aoihime and a Tiny Professor Crocell were by their sides, albeit all in their smaller forms.

"Team Trash! Only Robbie Thompson's returning this time, but he's brought his little brother along! And I guess we know where Claude's backup team all ended up this year!"

The Thompsons, Johnny and Robbie, stood back to back on the stage. They played a short and wildly discordant song on their guitars while six other buddyfighters stood behind them.

"The Shining Knights! Second place last year thanks to that _slugfest_ of a final round! Can they take the crown back?"

Pat tipped his hat with one hand, twirling his gun core gadget in the other. Dennis gave a short salute. Cassie gave a vacant smile, waving a hand.

"Changing their name from Team Certain Success, here's Team Serendipity!"

I joined my teammates in waving to the crowd - Emily and Dave cheerfully, Eva less so.

"And last but not least, my own team, Team Girls?" she said. "That is, it's just the word Girls, but with a question mark after it. You've got to say it as a question."

 

* * *

 

"So we're up against Team Trash, right?" I asked, looking at the pairings.

"I guess." said Dave. "Fun fact, they've still only got the Thompsons and their buddyless goons."

"We can't underestimate them." said Emily, flipping through her notebook. "Johnny was well-known as being the combo player of the Warlords, and Horror World is still a mystery."

"Their toolbox strategies can be dangerous." warned Eva.

"Not to mention the possibility of them pulling in a third player we haven't seen and just loading them up with hate cards." said Emily. "If they get to run nothing but anti-weapon cards against Dave or anti-burn cards against me we could be in trouble."

Eva nodded. "Be careful."

I had checked the profiles we had on Team Trash. Dave was right in that most of them were fighters with no buddy yet. Of their eight fighters only the Thompson brothers had buddies. Most of the rest seemed to be running ultra-specific, anti-meta decks to hard-counter notable buddyfighters. Only Johnny and Robbie really had any useful information listed.

 

* * *

 

TEAM TRASH  
Robert "Robbie" Thompson / Horror World / Iron Wolf Ferrocious. "Full Moon Ahead" - Retaliation Transform.  
Dangerous Fuse (Lead Guitar)  
The leader of Trash, running his team like a popsci image of an Alpha Wolf. Formerly a Danger World player with Armorknight Werewolf as his buddy. After a humiliating first-round loss last year he's the only founding member of Team Trash who didn't leave.  
Fun fact: Spends more money on commissions of his fursona than some people do on rent.  
Nina: He'll be transformed into his 9000 defense buddy at all times, so bring high-power monsters or burn.  
Eva: His set spells are the true threat.

Jean-Philippe "Johnny" Thompson / Dungeon World / Apprentice Ninja Akatsuki. "Dungeon Punk" - Toolbox Mission.  
Dangerous Fuse (Bass), Tabletop RPG Club  
The punk-rock dungeon-crawling supporting act of Trash. A former member of Team Warlords. A fan of RPGs, both tabletop and electronic.  
Fun fact: The only fighter at this academy who ever managed to defeat "Saint" Christina's Blue Sky Knights by actually reducing her lifepoints to 0.  
Nina: Just go all-in on attacks, adventurers have barely any good shields. His flashy combo is useless without the right setup.  
Eva: Adventurers are a versatile deck.

 

* * *

 

"Fun fact, Timo's our best bet for the first round." said Dave, clapping a hand on my shoulder with a grin.

"Huh?" I said, surprised. I was the buddyfighter with the least experience, after all.

"He has already defeated one." said Eva. Oh, right, Robbie's werewolf deck.

"And fun fact, he shouldn't have any trouble against their other big guy." said Dave with a wink.

"Yes, if it's one of those two your deck should stand a good chance." said Emily thoughtfully, flipping through her notebook. "Your monsters have the attack power to get over Ferrocious, and everything we've seen of that Dungeon deck..." she continued, staring at decklists she had written for similar builds.

I heard Tsukiusagi laughing. "Guess everyone's decided you're up first, TZ!" She emerged from her card.

"So you're okay with it, Tsuki?" I asked.

"S'yeah! Go get 'em!"

 

* * *

 

"I ain't gonna forgive you for beating my big bro!", said the green-haired boy opposite me.

As it turns out, they had sent out Johnny first.

"Punk rock falls, everyone dies!" yelled Johnny, holding his core deck case out to the side where it became a bass guitar floating next to him. "Luminize - T! P! K!"

Huh, guess he's changed his deck. "Leaping into action whenever needed!" I said. "Luminize - Rabbit Response!"

"Time to raise the flag!" we both shouted.

"Dungeon World!" he said, the little blue-haired ninja boy waving the flag for him.

"Katana World!" I said, holding the flag. Where had Tsuki gotten to?

"Say it with me, everyone!" said Sarah. "Buddy..."

"FIGHT!" was the reply from the crowd.

"Joining me here for this match is... huh?" said Sarah, surprised by her guest.

"Yo, what's up." said Tsuki, leaning in to Sarah's microphone. "I'm Tsukiusagi, and my buddy TZ is down there right now. Knock 'em dead!"

"Shouldn't you, you know, be there with him?" asked Sarah, narrowing her eyes a little.

"S'yeah, I'll get there if he needs me." said my buddy, putting her feet up on the table. "They don't call me Lightning Speed for nothing!"

 

* * *

 

"Charge and draw!" said Johnny, starting his turn by pulling a card from his bass.

"I'll set my Mission Card, Form A Party!" he said, throwing a card to the side. It became an orb with the spell name written on it in Japanese.

Form A Party could be a real problem in this match. Unlike my own set spells that reached into the dropzone, his pulled out monsters from the deck. In retrospect it made a lot of sense he was their opening fighter - Dungeon World's adventurer cards were famed for their versatility, grabbing all the cards they need to counter whatever deck they ended up against, so he'd have been a solid choice against any of my team.

I had actually fought against a couple of Dungeon World decks - aside from that one buddyfight against Dave's dad, I had went up against some Dungeon decks that Emily had designed, usually in the hands of Dave. His high-risk open center playstyle just wasn't supported as well by the spells Dungeon World could run, and adventurers were clearly not a deck he had used much before meeting his buddy - He admitted that he had been running a hybrid deck with both adventurers and dungeon enemies.

"Next, I call Silver Warrior Quenzwei to the center!" said Johnny, shaking me out of thought.

A warrior in silver armor appeared, gripping a massive sword with a softly-glowing yellow blade in his right hand. Purple clothes were visible under the joints and gaps in his armor. With his free hand he pulled off a full-face helmet, letting his long blonde hair flow freely.

"It's not a party without me!" said the adventurer.

"Quenzwei! Attack the fighter!"

"Have-have at thee!" said Quenzwei, leaving me unsure if he was stuttering. "Zwei Hander!" he called out, raising his oversized sword so it pointed upwards and steadying it with both hands. He rushed forwards to attack me.

"Buddy call, Tsukiusagi!" I said, holding out a glowing copy of my buddy's card.

"That's my cue!" said Tsuki, leaving behind a befuddled Sarah as she leapt out of the commentator's box. She twirled in the air, slamming into Quenzwei's massive sword and shattering.

"Timo blocks an early attack with a buddy call!" said Sarah. "Although that means I don't have a guest for the rest of this match." she noted, a little disappointed.

"Heeeey~, how about me?" said Sarah's buddy, emerging from her core gadget (a potted sunflower with the core set in the middle of the flower).

"Joining me now is my buddy, Beguiling Trickster Natalie!" said Sarah. "I won't pick sides in this fight, but my buddy's a dual monster from Dungeon World, so it is rather tempting."

"I _will_ pick sides, though!" said Natalie. "Go Johnny, go!"

 

* * *

 

"Fun fact, Quenzwei has a lot of critical and gets penetrate when he link-attacks!" said Dave.

Eva nodded silently.

"But Tsukiusagi blocked it like it was nothing!" finished Dave with a grin.

"He does need another adventurer in that link attack, but Johnny's buddy already forces his deck to be almost exclusively in that attribute." said Emily, flipping through her notebook. "What Timo really has to worry about is the set impact. That card can put him down to a single lifepoint, even if he stops every attack."

"Fun fact, the only card that can search for that is Twin Tail Incubus, so we probably won't see his impact at all if he's gone all-in on adventurers." said Dave.

 

* * *

 

"Final phase!" said Johnny, holding a glowing card in his hand. He tossed it to the side. "Don't ya know, it's the end of the world!"

"It's Johnny's signature move - the Darkness Final Mission Card, World End!" said Sarah. "A set impact that wipes out the whole field and all but one of his opponent's lifepoints if it ever reaches five soul!"

"Don't call hax on this, but it also procs Form A Party!" said Johnny, the orb containing his set spell dissolving as another card flew out from his deck.

"I add my buddy to my hand and get a free lifepoint! Epic win!" he said, as that copy of his buddy shuffled itself into his hand cards.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
11/1/5 | 11/3/4

"Draw! Charge and draw! I'll call Snake Princess Setsuna, to the center!" The snake coiled around her neck did a little tongue-flick as she appeared. "And she lets me pay a gauge to call Demon Kid Hiunmaru from my drop zone to the right!"

A pale Skull Warrior in an outfit resembling that of a samurai appeared. As his name suggested he had horns (three of them), as did the skull mask on the side of his head (two of them). He also had a shoulder-guard made out of spiked bones on his left arm, the one holding his oversized katana.

"Amazing!" said Sarah. "Timo's early use of his buddy as a shield also moved Hiunmaru from his gauge to the drop zone, and reviving him has put that gauge right back!"

"Next, I cast Odd Ritual Skull Festival!" I said, throwing my set spell to the side. "Which lets me pay a life to bring out Godly-Speed Natsubame!"

The skeletal bird-man appeared on my left, adding a card to my hand.

"I equip my Ninja Blade, Chirizakura!"

The sword appeared in my hand, a strange segmented blade with a red tint. I looked at my sword core gadget. I had first thought it was a regular katana, just because I didn't really expect it to be anything more. But I had decided to look up just what kind of katana it was a few days back (which had made Tsuki laugh about what a giant nerd I was for owning a rad sword and reading about using it instead of _actually using it_ ).

It turned out that it was a _ninjato_. A sword shorter and straighter than a katana, less visible than the famed blade wielded by samurai. Instead it was more known for being a versatile tool - a wider handguard for climbing walls, a scabbard that would be used as a snorkel to breathe underwater, a cord so it could be easily retrieved. Not a weapon that'd be seen as incredible in combat, but one that was very useful in a lot of situations.

Kind of funny that I no longer actually used my core gadget sword in buddyfights. Without any Secret Sword cards in this deck it spent every practice fight sheathed. I had gotten more use out of it in _cooking_.

 

* * *

 

"Heads up!" said Tsuki, tossing an onion at me. I managed to slice it into two neat halves as it passed me.

"See? Told you you'd get it, TZ!" she said.

"Uh, pretty sure that one was just a fluke." I said, looking at the mostly-intact onions scattered on the ground around me. "I mean, I appreciate you trying to teach me to use a sword, but at this rate we'll never get the onions chopped."

I also appreciated her throwing them slightly to the side so the ones I missed wouldn't hit me in the face.

"Hey, you tried, didn't you? It takes time to get that kind of thing right." she said. "Well, guess we'll try things your way."

"Uh, yeah, sure." I said. "Besides, onion halves won't work. When you're making pelmeni you need to dice them up finely, mix them with the mince - uh, about a 9-7-4 ratio of..." I said, picking up the two halves of the one onion I actually managed to cut her way.

She laughed. "Dude, TZ, you're sounding like Emily geeking out over deckbuilding! Just my luck to get a giant nerd for a buddy!" she said. "C'mon dork, this food won't make itself!"

 

* * *

 

"Why _did_ you become my buddy anyway?" I asked, mixing the dough for the pelmeni - little Russian meat dumplings that I had decided to cook with Tsuki's help. Now that she was done joking around she made short work of chopping up the onions to add to the filling.

"Eh, felt like it, I guess?" she said evasively, shrugging a little.

"There's more to that, isn't there?" I said, adding a pinch of salt as I stirred. "You saw my first fight with Dave. I was... well, I wasn't a great buddyfighter back then. I was just challenging people to try and be like my sister, but that just wasn't me."

Something occurred to me that I had never asked. "So, uh, do _you_ have any brothers or sisters?"

"S'yeah, TZ. My big sister was off as part of Omni Lord Ziun's guard for the last couple-thousand years." said Tsuki. "Hadn't spoke to her for years, since the big guy was snoozing on Earth. But she came back and it was one of those awkward family reunions." she said with a shrug.

"So is she a different type of Skull Warrior, or..."

"She's a Tsukiusagi. Just like me, TZ." said, well, Tsukiusagi. " _Exactly_ like me."

"Uh, that's probably not exactly true. I know even among monsters of the same type..." I started.

She interrupted. "When she was gone I just got snarkier and snarkier until she came back, like I was trying to fill in for her. Then I realized we don't really need two of me back home, and... well, yeah." said Tsuki, her voice much less jovial than usual. "Wasn't really anything special about me there, so I just found a buddy and hopped to Earth."

This didn't feel like a joke. She was really baring her heart here. I thought for a moment about how to reply.

"I, uh, think you're pretty special." I said, putting down the bowl.

It wasn't like my buddy was close to me in personality, like Dave and Sphinxy, or that we built off each other's strongest suits, like Eva and Kardor. But Tsuki was always fun to be around, and we worked together pretty well in buddyfights. And even if she had different reasons I could really understand her family problems.

"No offence TZ, but you're not my type. Way too young for me." she said, with a smirk.

"Uh, that's not what I meant." Although with her back to joking already I saw a chance to get back at her for that. "So Kardor's old enough to be your type?" I asked, as I started kneading the dough.

She laughed. "S'yeah, but his wife's one of those Well Ghosts. You know, the kind that kill you seven days after you see them? That's high-class, can't compete with her even if they weren't married." Yep, definitely back to joking.

"Anyway, what about you and Dave? Is he _your_ type?" she said teasingly.

"I, uh, don't know what you're talking about." I replied, feeling myself start to blush a little.

She just laughed at that, shook her head and dropped the subject.

 

* * *

 

A little later, I had finished putting the filling into the little half-moon dumplings, finally taking off my apron.

"I kinda had my doubts, TZ, but those look like they're gonna be delicious." said Tsuki. "How long until they're ready?"

"Uh, we'll take them out of the fridge tomorrow, and..."

"Tomorrow?" she said.

"Well yeah, we need them to set before we can boil them, then we need to fry them... like you said, things sometimes take time."

 

* * *

 

But I couldn't take time here. Johnny's deck was a type that would put pressure on his opponent - hand advantage from his set spells, field advantage from his impact and potentially a lot of burst damage from his monsters if he brought out a Tetsuya alongside Quenzwei. I had to press forward with an all-out attack before any of his combos got going.

"Setsuna, attack Quenzwei!" I called out.

The girl's snake lunged at Quenzwei, wrapping around his neck.

"Reincarnate me... as an elf!" said Quenzwei, failing to pull the snake off him before he shattered.

"Hiunmaru! Natsubame! Attack the fighter!" I said.

The bird-man raked his bony claws across Johnny while the demon kid slashed at him with his katana.

"I've tanked your whole raid and I'm still on seven life!" said Johnny. "You ain't got nothing on your sister's DPS!" he said. "Not unless you can attack me with that sword somehow! C'mon!" he said, beckoning me with both hands.

"I'm not out of attacks yet!" I said, looking at the sword in my hand. I raised it in the air. "Although, uh, I'm going to need to destroy Setsuna early for this one." I said, somewhat hesitant.

The snake princess nodded. "Just as seasons pass, so too do Skull Warriors. As do their victims." She gave a curtsey, and shattered.

"Uh, okay?" I said, a little surprised by the sudden poetry. I shrugged, and raised the sword. "Anyway, Chirizuka can destroy a Skull Warrior to get an extra power boost! And since Setsuna was in my center, I can attack again!" I said, leaping forwards to swing at him with my weapon.

Johnny laughed as his lifepoints dropped. I jumped backwards, a little confused.

"Uh, I guess I end my turn?" I said.

Hiunmaru and Natsubame shattered as I said it. Most of my Skull Warriors didn't stick around for more than a turn. But with five cards in my hand, along with my set spell, I definitely had options for next turn.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
10/2/5 | 5/3/4

"Draw! And charge, and draw!" said Johnny, grabbing the neck of his core gadget and strumming it twice in rapid succession.

"Thanks for the help, noob! You've set yourself up the _bomb_ , little man!" said my opponent. Wait, what? "Cast - Golden Treasure Box!"

"Amazing!" said Sarah. "Johnny let himself drop below six life on purpose to cast one of Dungeon World's powerful late-game spells!"

A screen popped into existence beside me, with Dave's face on it. "Fun fact, he might draw three cards from this?" he said. "Or he might get nothing." He added with a shrug. "No idea if it's worth trying to counter."

Not that I had a way to counter it right now anyway. Maybe I should have waited and tried to take out the rest of his lifepoints in one turn? Oh well, no going back now.

"Golden Treasure Box checks the size of the top card of his deck, and he can draw that many cards!" said Sarah. "If it doesn't have a size, he draws one card and gains a gauge!"

"Spin it to win it!" said Natalie, the announcer's plant-girl buddy. Johnny obliged by flinging a card forward from the top of his deck. The card grew in size, and spun around to face me. The art was of humanoid dragon in shimmering blue and gold armor.

"Neo Braver, Ars Grande - a size 2 monster! Epic win!" said Johnny, drawing two new cards as the revealed monster dissolved.

"Big monsters, big prizes! I love it!" said Natalie, full of glee. I guess she really did have no problem with taking the side of a Dungeon World fighter.

"Here's my new Mission Card, Rest At Nazaro Hot Springs!" he said, adding another orb above his set impact.

"Buddy call to the center, Apprentice Ninja Akatsuki! And to the right as well!"

A pair of the little blue-haired ninjas appeared. The second one he called had a green scarf instead of a red one, but their ninja outfits were otherwise identical - even down to the oversized scroll cases and the swords slung over their backs that they could just barely reach.

"And let's get some backup - a backup _dancer_!" said Johnny. "Dancing Magician Tetsuya, to the left!"

"Yo! Tetsuya's in the house!" said the blonde boy he had just summoned. He was wearing a purple cloak, though for some reason the bananas growing out of his hair drew the eye more.

A screen appeared in the air next to me, with Emily's face on it.

"Watch out, Timo! He can use Tetsuya's effect to..."

"To help fill out his impact, I know." I said. "Uh, I'm pretty sure you were the one who told me, back when we first met?"

"Eh?" she said in surprise, pulling out her notebook, and frantically flipping backwards through it towards what I knew was a hypothetical decklist she had written upon seeing Johnny fight my sister. I laughed a little as the screen vanished, and turned back to face my opponent.

"Tetsuya! One of you Akatsukis! Give him a link attack!"

The two Akatsukis looked at each other, and nodded. They quickly played rock-paper-scissors and the winner jumped towards me.

"Yo ninja, yo ninja, yo!" chanted the dancing magician, who true to his title was breakdancing behind the Akatasuki that had leapt to attack me. His words caused solid musical notes to float forward and hit me alongside a sword strike from the ninja boy.

"Dancing Magician Tetsuya's amazing effect gives another monster Double Attack!" said Sarah.

The Akatsuki who had just attacked me started swaying in time with a chant of "Yo, yo, yo!" from Tetsuya.

"Yo, yo, yo!" said the Akatsukis and Johnny in time with him.

"And every time an Akatsuki link attacks, World End comes closer!" said Johnny, throwing a card into his impact. "Second verse, same as the first - another link attack!"

"You got it, Big J!" said the two ninja boys in unison.

The two ninjas jumped at me, but were repelled by my spell. "Cast, Demon Way Oborogenbu!"

"You can't stop rock and roll!" said Johnny. "And you can't stop two more cards moving to World End!" He pulled two more cards from his core gadget, flinging them aside.

He was right. Even if I blocked every attack from his buddy he'd still be able to set up World End.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
6/2/4 | 6/3/2

"Draw! Charge and draw!" I said. "I'll use Skull Festival to call Setsuna to the center, and she lets me revive Hiunmaru, to the right! Then I'll call Blood Knife Kimensai, to the left!"

Two of my usual Skull Warriors returned to the field, and Kimensai joined them. He was pale, with a demonic grin on his face and two horns. Long dark hair flowed behind him. He wore armor made of blood-red scales under ragged robes, in turn under two oversized pauldrons with large horned skulls on the top.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" shrieked Kimensai, running one hand along the length of his katana.

"Then I'll set my Art of Explosive Hades Fall!" I said. Cards from my deck appeared in front of me, and while I made my choice Sarah explained the card I had just played.

"Art Of Explosive Hades Fall lets Timo set a trap for his opponent! He hides a monster from his deck in its soul, and if Johnny calls a monster of the same size it'll be destroyed, and he'll take damage!" said Sarah.

"It'll never be as great as the Trap spells in Dungeon World, but it's still a _banger_ of a card!" added Natalie.

Outside of Quenzwei and that Neodragon I didn't expect to see anything but size 1 monsters from him. His deck had a lot of smaller monsters, like mine, to allow three of them to be called at once. So I picked a monster I'd rather have in my drop zone.

"Alright. Kimensai, attack the center Akatsuki!" I said.

"Sword of Devilish Delight!" cried Kimensai as he sprang forwards.

The skull warrior's attack was cut off by an energy barrier.

"Eat it! Here's my Divine Protection Of Shalsana!" said Johnny, holding out the card. "You don't get your penetrate damage, and my lil buddy's still standing!"

"Setsuna! Attack him too!" I said.

As my monster destroyed his Akatsuki two cards flew into Johnny's hand. "You forgot about my Nazaro Hot Springs? Noob mistake! I get two adventurers back from the drop!"

I had known that, but didn't really have a way around it. I couldn't afford to just leave his center defended. Speaking of, I pointed my sword forward as Setsuna was destroyed by it. "I'll destroy Setsuna to power up my sword, and Hiunmaru attacks the fighter!"

The demon kid struck at Johnny with his katana, yelling "I'm not kiddin' around this time!".

"Is that the best you got? Lame!" said Johnny. "Even your wimpy sword can hit that hard!"

Was he trying to bait me into attacking him again? He was already below 6 life, so why... oh, right.

"I'll attack Dancing Magician Tetsuya!"

"Not cool, yo!" said the banana-haired boy raising his hands in front of himself. I slashed him in half before returning to my side of the field.

While Johnny was wide open to attacks, leaving his Dancing Magician around could make anything else he called that much more dangerous.

"That's all for my turn." I said, as Hiunmaru and Kimensai were destroyed by their effects.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/2/3 | 5/2/3

"Your noob of a sister stole my spot on the team!" said Johnny. "And I won't let you ninja my shot at a rematch! You just don't steal stuff like that!"

"Uh, weren't you literally trying to steal a buddy monster plushie just the other day?" I asked, wondering if he even saw the hypocrisy there.

"No way! I was going to save up tickets for one of them so I could give it to Tess!" said Johnny. "She digs cute stuff like that!"

"I mean, your brother definitely said..." I started.

"My bro talks a big game, but he'd never really do that!" said Johnny, cutting me off. "He just wanted to help me out, right? Sure, he's kind of a jerk sometimes, and making everyone he ganks in a buddyfight join his team isn't great, but he's always stood by me when I needed him!"

"When we were kids we went with some dumb tourist group to Paris Catacombs. Y'know, that huge dungeon full of bones under the city?" he said.

I had actually read about the catacombs. Over 200 miles of caves and tunnels under Paris, lined with decades upon decades worth of bones exhumed from graveyards to make room for the growing capital city.

Except that was centuries ago, and it turned out to have long-reaching consequences in more modern times. Namely that the five-story maze of tunnels below the French capital made it impossible to put down foundations for taller buildings anywhere near the center of the city.

There were larger catacombs in Dungeon World, but only because so much of that world's infrastructure was built _downwards_.

"We got cut off from the group. And we were so far underground we got no phone signal, and I ain't afraid to admit I started cryin'!" he said.

"So my bro just started yellin', about how he'd fight any ghosts or skeletons who came near. It took my mind off the whole thing and I sketched up a map of where I remembered us going - just like in one of those old-school dungeon crawler games!" he said, a tone of pride in his voice. "It took us hours to get back to the group, but we made it together!"

"But enough lore, it's my turn!" he said, breaking off from his story. "Draw! Charge and draw! I'll call another Akatsuki, to the center!"

"Hades Fall!" I shouted. The orb with my set spell split open, and Benishojo leapt out. He grabbed onto Akatasuki and exploded, destroying them both and engulfing Johnny in flames.

"Timo's set spell has just destroyed Johnny's buddy, and dealt him two damage!" said Sarah. "He correctly guessed that Johnny would have to call a size 1 monster!"

"Ugh!" said Johnny, clearly frustrated at the loss of his monster (and at being set on fire). "Alright, I'll call Neo Braver Ars Grande to the center instead!"

The dragon he had revealed earlier with Golden Treasurebox appeared in his center. He raised his glowing sword high in the air.

"Neo Braver's skill checks the top card of my deck, and if it's a monster I can call it right away!" A card turned around in the air, above the point of Ars Grande's sword. "Epic win! It's Champion of Arena, Rouga! To the left!"

His remaining Akatsuki shattered. Now alongside the neodragon there was a well-muscled teenage boy, with long silver hair and dark skin. Along with his very revealing armor (with wolf head-shaped shoulder guards and, uh, not much else) he was also equipped with a short sword and a golden circular shield.

"The power of the wolf will destroy you!" shouted Rouga.

The murderous expression on his face brought my sister to mind, and I briefly wondered if this was one of the adventurers that had an equivalent buddyfighter on Earth. If so he'd probably be a terrifying opponent. Even as it was I probably didn't want to be on the receiving end of an attack from this monster.

"Since you knocked me down past five life, Rouga's got extra power and critical!" said Johnny. "And his Penetrate attack'll totally pwn your bunny girl!"

 _Really_ didn't want to get hit by that. But Tsuki's effect wouldn't help me here, so I might just have to take it.

"Cast!" said Johnny, tossing a card to the side where it joined his set impact as an orb. "My set spell, Form A Party! And, cast!" he said, again.

"Johnny's just cast the Oracle Of Tuval spell card!" said Sarah. "He can discard every card in his hand to draw three times!"

"And since he had no cards in his hand he's drawing for free!" said Natalie. "Wooo, Dungeon World best world!" added the dryad, closing her eyes and pumping her fist in the air.

Another Form A Party wouldn't do anything by itself, but even another copy of his impact would activate it. And speaking of that impact he was now in range of activating it if I tried to heal myself or build up any field presence. His adventurers really did let him attack from everywhere at once.

"And check it out, that last loot drop had another Nazaro Hot Springs!" he said, flinging a card to the side where it became a set spell orb, shattering his Form A Party. That can't be good.

"Johnny gets a lifepoint back, and searches out yet another adventurer!" said Sarah.

My opponent pulled a card from his core gadget, grinning at me. "But that's for if you tank this turn, and I kinda doubt you can! Rouga, attack the fighter!" he called out.

The adventurer leapt in the air, yelling out a wordless battlecry as he swung his sword at me.

I staggered backwards, falling down on one knee. Even with their powers heavily suppressed some monsters still hit hard. I heard my lifepoints ticking down once, twice, three times. A screen appeared in the air beside me, showing Emily clasping her hands with a worried expression on her face.

"Timo, are you okay?" she asked, leaning in close the camera. Dave and Eva were looking over her shoulders at me.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." I said, climbing to my feet. "Don't worry, I think I've got this." I said, giving a thumbs up.

Dave grinned, and gave a thumbs-up in response.

Emily smiled. "Good luck!" she said, before the screen vanished.

"Neo Braver, attack!" shouted Johnny.

"Grande Finale!" said the Neodragon-knight as he leapt towards me, swinging his glowing sword.

"Call, Tsukiusagi!" I said. My buddy leapt in to intercept the attack.

"Venti or bust!" she said, before being cut in half by the attack.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I had gotten through this turn, even if it was with barely any lifepoints. "Thanks, Tsuki." I said, as Johnny ended his turn.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
2/1/2 | 4/1/3

"Both fighters are in rough shape, but Timo only has two lifepoints left!" said Sarah.

"Johnny's World End doesn't look very useful now - it'd only take away a lifepoint!" commented her dryad buddy.

"If either fighter can connect with their attacks this fight could be over very soon!"

"Draw!" I looked at the impact I had just drawn and a plan started forming in my head. Okay, definitely holding onto this one. "Charge and draw!"

"Skull Festival calls Setsuna to the center!" I said, the 2 indicating my lifepoints becoming a 1. This had better pan out or I wasn't going to survive Johnny's next turn. Thankfully he didn't have the mimic cards Dave had thrown out during practice fights or I'd be gambling everything to even attack.

"Setsuna calls Hiunmaru from the drop zone to my right!" I said. The horned Skull Warrior, wearing armor decorated with bones, appeared and replaced the gauge Setsuna had just used up. Which I needed for...

"I call Benishojo back from the drop zone, to the left!" Now I had my full field back. With my sword that's four attacks. But against a formerly top-ranked fighter like Johnny it might not be enough. There was still more I had to do to make sure.

"Cast, Demon Way Jugonrensa!"

"Timo has just cast Jugonrensa, a spell that powers up with every Skull Warrior on his field!" said Sarah. "With three of them, he gains one life, one gauge and one card drawn from his deck!"

"All that just to get a Dragon Emperor Legend's effect? Weaksauce!" said Johnny. "Even if you draw more monsters you've got no room for them!"

"Uh, that's fine by me? My next card isn't a monster." I said. "Cast, Ceremony of Exorcism! For two gauge I get to destroy a set spell!"

"Big deal, I can get by without my Nazaro Hot Springs!" said Johnny as the orb containing his set spell shattered. "If I get even one monster out next turn you're set for a total party kill!"

"Hiunmaru, attack his Neo Braver!"

"Cast! Divine Protection of Shalsana!" said Johnny, a circle of light in front of his Neodragon repelling my demon. Johnny's lifepoints appeared, ticking up from 4 to 5. Okay, that worked, even if my monsters definitely couldn't defeat him now.

"Benishojo, your turn!"

Ars Grande ducked behind his massive shield, but Benishojo's attack punched cleanly through it, destroying the Neodragon.

"Setsuna, attack the fighter!"

The Skull Warrior threw her snake at Johnny, where it bit him, dropping his life down to two points again.

"I destroy Setsuna with my Chirizakura to boost my attack power!" I said, holding my sword in front of myself as the snake girl shattered again. "And I attack!" I said, jumping forwards.

Rouga narrowed his eyes, giving me a sidelong glance as I ran past him to attack Johnny. But thankfully he couldn't do anything to stop me.

"Cast - Quiescence of Cassiade!" said Johnny, holding out a card as my sword bounced off a wall of force in front of him. He laughed. "Haha, pwned! Your attack does nothing!"

I smiled as I jumped back to my side of the stage. "I wouldn't say it did _nothing_. You've only got one card in your hand, and I'm betting it's not another Cassiade!" If my sword had hit I'd have won anyway, but everything had lined up just perfectly for a second route to victory.

"Final Phase!" I declared, holding a card from my hand in the air as it glowed. I was grinning - it had all worked perfectly!

"What?" he exclaimed. He looked at the one card in his hand, and came to the same realization I already had - that he really didn't have an answer to this. "Aw suxxor!"

"I destroyed your Nazaro Hot Springs just to make sure you wouldn't have anything spare to stop this!" I said. "I cast - Demon Way, Karakurenai!"

My Skull Warriors appeared behind me - Benishojo, Natsubame, Hiunmaru, Setsuna, Kimensai and of course my buddy - Tsukiusagi. All of them wreathed in red flames.

"Karakurenai deals four damage to an opponent, but only if both players have no center monsters, and only if the target has less than four life!" said Sarah. "And Timo has set up both those conditions!"

The Skull Warriors behind me faded into the red flames, which became a lash of energy to strike at my opponent.

"Haaaaaaaaaax!" cried out Johnny, falling down as his flag shattered.

["Winner: Timo Zaitsev."]

"Amazing! Rookie buddyfighter Timo Zaitsev has triumphed over Johnny Thompson, one of the Academy's former top-ranked fighters!" said Sarah. "Will this be enough of an edge for his team to move to the second round? We'll answer that question with the next fight, after this short intermission!"


	15. Buddy Horror Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva faces the only other Horror World fighter in the Academy - Johnny's older brother, Robbie. But her deck has some terrifying new secret weapons, courtesy of her buddy and Emily's deckbuilding skills.

"If people don't know you they probably think you look like some crazy horror movie serial killer." said Dennis offhandedly to the now-tiny Kardor.

Eva knew the words were directed to her buddy, an actual literal _Slasher_ from Horror World. Though she had long-since learned not to show it on her face, memories still came to the surface of her mind every time she heard something like that. The voices of those girls, as if they were whispering behind her even now.

_  
"She looks like some crazy killer!"_

_"She looks more like a monster than the actual monsters!"_

_"That creepy girl..."  
_

And yet... it was different now.

Eva walked out to the corridor, where her buddy was waiting in the SD form he rarely used.

"Kardor." she said, her voice as flat and devoid of emotion as ever. "I don't feel like a monster now."

"Eh? Yeah, you're definitely not a monster!" said the little slasher, waving his real hand dismissively. "I'd know, my power nullifies..."

"That's not what I meant." she said.

"Your friends - you were worried what they think of you, weren't you?" he replied.

She gave a slight nod. Tsukiusagi had met Timo less than an hour ago, and Emily even less than that, and she felt the Skull Warrior had already made more of a connection with her teammates than she ever would.

And yet... She wasn't jealous. She felt _happy_ , happy that her friend now had a buddy. Just like how nice it felt when her other friends had encouraged her to start dressing more nicely, or when she had met her own buddy.

Even though she still sometimes felt like an outsider, she didn't feel quite as hollow as she did before. Ever since she met her friends her constant need to suppress all emotion had gradually turned into a quiet confidence in her friends and her own buddyfighting skill.

Her papa was proud of her (if distant). Dave and Timo both thought of her as a friend. She wasn't certain if Emily returned the feelings growing inside her, but Eva knew the other girl cared deeply for her too. And there was her buddy...

"Eva, this is going to sound corny as hell." said Kardor, pointing his hook hand at the quiet girl. "You're all good kids. They care about you, and you care about them. Everyone worries about that kind of thing sometimes, even Slashers like me. You're not alone."

She nodded, a little more visibly this time. It really did make her feel better to hear that. "Thank you." she said.

In one of her stories, her character was a fearsome shadowmancer named Dark Evangel. Eva had written her to be surrounded by true friends who stood by her, even if she acted dark and weird sometimes. Knowing that she had real friends like that helped a lot.

 

* * *

 

Robbie Thompson stood on Team Trash's side of the fight stage. Iron Wolf Ferrocious was beside him, hunched over and growling. Apparently our opponents had already made their choice for the second round while we were taking a short break out in the stands.

"Come on, send someone to fight me!" shouted Robbie.

"Awooo!" howled Ferrocious. "It's the hour of the wolf!"

Huh. I didn't realize his buddy could talk. Makes sense, now that I think about it, but Robbie spent most of our fight turned into the Iron Wolf.

"Who do you guys think we should put up against him?" said Dave. "Fun fact, I don't really think any of us would lose to him, so it's not my call."

"We can't be reckless." said Eva quietly.

Dave laughed. "Fun fact, I know I'm dumb as a brick compared to you three, but this guy's on a whole other level. I'd have to mess up pretty badly to lose this one."

"My Dragowizards could easily bypass his defenses, but it's another story if he manages to go on the offensive." mused Emily. "Maybe our best option would be..."

"Hahaha! What are ya, scared to fight the greatest Horror World player in the world?" Robbie shouted.

"I will fight him." said Eva, a little more loudly than she usually spoke. We all turned to face her.

"I'm fine with Eva taking this one." I said. If anyone knew how to fight a Horror World deck it was her.

"Fun fact, we're 110% behind you!" said Dave, giving Eva a thumbs up.

Emily clasped her hands in front of herself, and leaned in to Eva. "Are you sure? What if..."

She stopped talking as Eva put her hands around Emily's, pulling them apart. She took each of Emily's hands in her own while she looked in Emily's eyes. Eva nodded slightly, and Emily blushed.

"Good luck!" said Emily. Eva headed off towards the fight stage.

Dave grinned. "Come on, let's get to the buddypit. Fun fact? We're about to see the flames of her lantern become a blaze!"

I looked at her own profile.

 

* * *

 

TEAM SERENDIPITY  
Evangeline "Eva" Friday / Horror World / Hookhand Man Kardor. "Don't Go Alone" - Dropzone Recursion.  
Journalism club consultant  
The eerily quiet yet elegant Spooky Girl of Team Serendipity. Daughter of indie horror movie legend Jacob Friday. A fan of all kinds of literature.  
Fun fact: Never seen smiling outside of buddyfights.  
Nina: End the fight as soon as possible or her deck will just keep ramping up.  
Eva: Don't go alone.

 

* * *

 

"Huh, she really doesn't smile much." I said, looking up from my phone as we entered the Buddy Pit.

It was a room where the most obvious feature was a wall dominated by large monitors and the controls for them. The largest one, in the middle, was showing Eva standing on stage - her eyes were closed as she gently swept an arm to move her core gadget off to the side.

There were a few chairs scattered about the room, and more neatly stacked in the corner, presumably so larger teams or those with humanoid buddies would have enough places to sit. It was hard to imagine the many members of Team Trash all fitting in three chairs, after all.

"Or laugh, or cry." said Emily, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Fun fact, I think I was the first person in the whole academy to see her smile." said Dave. "And even that took months."

"Uh, didn't you say you only met her just before the last tournament?" I said.

"Yep." he replied.

If that's the case... "So, uh, she just didn't smile at all until, what, a month or two ago?" I asked.

"She just didn't react that way before Horror World appeared." said Emily. "She did start joking more, but always in that same deadpan tone."

Dave laughed. "Fun fact, she doesn't show it on her face, but she cares about us as much as we care about her." he said. "Maybe even more."

Emily nodded, and clasped her hands. "She's always looking out for her friends."

"Well, we're here if she needs our help this time. But, uh, honestly? She'll probably do fine without us." I said, thinking back to my own fight with Robbie. I couldn't have won without her stepping in, making one small change to my strategy that completely sunk his deck. "If there's anyone who knows the most about Horror World it's her."

 

* * *

 

"Moons out, runes out!" yelled Robbie, tossing his coat aside and turning his core deck case into a guitar. He raised a hand high, and brought it down to play one long chord as his opening hand shot out of the deck. "Luminize - Full Moon Ahead!"

"When I go down to the woods today, I know..." said Eva in was a loud voice for her but would be quiet for nearly anyone else. Her wrought-iron lantern core gadget floated beside her, the blue flame flickering gently behind the vine-like fretwork.

"Luminize - I'm Not Alone." she finished.

"Horror World!" shouted Robbie, striking a pose beside his buddy, Ferrocious, who growled deeply.

"Horror World." replied Eva, staring intently at her opponent. Kardor held the flag high in his one real hand.

 

* * *

 

"I'm so happy she feels that way now." said Emily, smiling. "She told me she wanted to name the deck herself."

"Uh, so that wasn't one of yours?" I asked.

Emily gave a lot of her decks names while she was building them, so she could label them and find specific ones later. She could be a little scatterbrained when it came to things other than science, but it apparently helped when she made jokes about the contents of each new deck. I was under the impression she and Dave had been testing her decks for years, the two of them making all sorts of weird in-jokes in those names.

Emily shook her head. "It's such a rare world that I don't have any decks it could be mixed up with." she said. "I've never built any other Horror World decks. Nobody has, really." she said, adjusting her glasses.

Right, it didn't actually exist until after Yamigedo spat it back up. And Forest World, if that announcer girl's buddy was any indication. I had heard of both Marine and Aqua World too, though I had no idea if they were just different names for the same world.

"Fun fact, she was still using her old deck name and luminize chant in our tuning matches." said Dave.

 

* * *

 

"Our second round this match is between the academy's two Horror World fighters." said Sarah. "It's the world where every day is Halloween!"

"We could be in for a very strange buddyfight between a boy who sometimes acts like a wolf himself and a girl who always reminds me of a creepy ghost girl singing nursery rhymes in the trailer for some terrifying movie. Brr." She crossed her arms in front of her, as if shivering.

"This time my co-commentator is a good friend of mine who wouldn't be creeped out as much by those movies. The journalism club's very own Nina -". She paused, finally looking at the boy seated next to her.

"What are the haps, my cats and kittens! Your special guest star today is my friend and yours, Esteban - the Enterprise himself!"

"Hey, where's Nina?" asked Sarah. "Sorry, but I thought she wanted this slot?"

"I was in town to check in on my old teammates, and what do you know, I bumped into the stylish girl I helped take over editing our very own school paper." he said. "I cashed in a favour, figured I'd try my hand at this myself, let everyone see I'm back in town. Ya know, marketing."

"We had all heard you were off in Hero World." noted Sarah.

"That's right. I was doing some work with my Darkhero friends. Helping them get the cool rep they deserve. Less gangsters, more gang- _stars_!" he said, adding jazz-hands.

"Always making the heroes proud! Anyway, Robbie Thompson's traded in his Danger World deck for the werewolves of the Monster Mash attribute." said Sarah. "A much less offensive approach, but one that's gained him a reputation for sheer toughness, as well as a hugely expanded team."

"If I heard right then that spooky girl's got a deck just as scary as her old Skull Warriors." said Enterprise. "Guess we'll have to wait and see just what the Slashers can do."

 

* * *

 

"So you're the little girly who's got the same flag as me! This is gonna be fun! Charge and draw!" yelled Robbie, throwing a card aside then sweeping his arm down past the core on his guitar to draw another (accompanied by a loud chord).

"I call Terrible Critter Hodag to the center!" he said.

A squat green four-legged creature appeared. With horns, tusks, claws and a series of spikes running down its back it'd almost look scary, if not for also looking like it was patched together haphazardly from other animals.

"I'll use Hodag's skill, 'Fearsome Fraud'! I destroy him to add Runic Circle to my hand!"

The strange creature howled as it shattered, causing a card to fly out from Robbie's deck.

"That means I have every part of my ultimate combo again!" said Robbie, holding out three glowing cards. "Cast - Blood Moon, Skull Moon, Runic Circle!"

He was once again flanked by the two moons - one plain crimson rock, the other a grinning white skull - and surrounded by glowing symbols on the ground.

"Now I'll transform into my Lone Wolf Amarok!"

Robbie leaned back and howled, transforming into a giant wolf-like humanoid once again. Unlike his buddy-transform this one was covered in white fur, had no armor and was just a lot larger.

"My Circle replaces the card in my hand, and my Amarok gets an extra critical so long as there's no monster on my field!"

"Much like Hero World's famed Omni Lord this is a transform card that works best alone." said Enterprise.

"Amazing! A powerful first turn play!" said Sarah. "How will Eva respond to a potential four damage from the very start?"

"And I'll _attack!_ " he said, bounding forward on all fours like a real wolf to swipe at Eva.

"Coffin-Lid Shield." she said. The wooden barrier repelled the claws of Amarok, but Eva's lifepoints remained untouched.

"Hahahaha! What, are you scared of my Lone Wolf Amarok?" said Robbie.

"I was alone." said Eva, her voice as cold and neutral as ever as she stared down her opponent. "You still are."

"What, are you trying to creep me out?" said Robbie. "You think you're better than me because of all that friendship stuff your team's always talkin' about? All I need is my bro and my buddy!"

A projected screen appeared beside Robbie. Presumably one of his teammates was telling him something. He burst into laughter.

"And my little bro in the buddy pit just told me something very interesting!" he said, with a wide grin. He turned his head sideways, staring at Eva with one eye and showing off his mouth full of jagged teeth. "There isn't a single spell destruction card in Horror World right now, so you can't stop my perfect setup!"

"[End of move. Your move.]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
10/2/5 | 10/1/3

"It must be weird playing a world almost nobody has." said Sarah. "I got a huge shock when I woke up one morning and Natalie was suddenly a dual card with a world I had never heard of!"

Enterprise laughed. "Dungeon World fighters got hit by that the most." he said. "You know, I even met my own Dungeon World equivalent once - that _Deals Warlock_ is one cool cat."

"Draw." said Eva. "Charge. Draw. Cast - Field Canceller."

"F-field Canceller?" said Robbie, eyes wide in shock.

"Field Canceller, a generic spell that destroys every set spell on the field!" said Sarah. "But it costs two gauge and needs you to discard, and doesn't Eva use set spells as well?"

Her guest co-commentator shrugged. "Guess she's decided it's worth running. And against a setup like that, I can't blame her."

"Skull Moon! I counter-transform into my buddy!" said Robbie, his lifepoints ticking down by one as he turned into the familiar armored form of his buddy, making them jump back up to 10. By the time he had finished transforming his set spells were gone, leaving only the card drawn by his Runic Circle.

"Cast - Haunted Mansion." said Eva, the ground shaking as the spooky manor rose from the ground behind her. She had obviously waited until after her Field Canceller had went off before playing her signature set spell.

"Call - Recurring Nightmare, Five-Knife Freddy. To the center." she continued.

A horribly-burned man in a striped black-and-red outfit appeared. He held out his left hand in front of himself - he was wearing a glove with four long blades attached to the fingers. In his other (ungloved) hand he was holding a fifth one of those same blades.

"It's me!" said the monster, waving his clawed glove through the air as a card floated from Eva's deck to his soul.

Eva paused for a moment, as if thinking. "Your move." she said.

"[End of move. Your move.]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
10/0/2 | 10/1/4

"Huh?" said Sarah. "She just ended her move without attacking?"

"Come on, haven't you been keeping up with the news?" said Enterprise. "I thought everyone at the academy would know about Iron Wolf Ferrocious. He's a transform card with 9000 defense."

"Wow, that's far too much!" said Sarah. "So Horror World's more about being tough than having high-power monsters?"

"They've got their share of scary attackers. But both buddy monsters in this fight are tough customers when it comes to defending their human buddies."

 

* * *

 

"Fun fact, I feel like I've wasted my turn if I don't even get to attack." said Dave.

"Uh, wouldn't that attack just be bouncing off Ferrocious without hurting Robbie at all?" I pointed out.

"Well yeah, but it's the principle of the thing."

"I know her Five-Knife Freddy only has 4000 power, so right now she'd need another monster to link-attack with." I said. "She might even need a weapon or spell to get past his buddy. Emily?" I said, turning to face our resident deckbuilder.

Emily giggled. "Don't worry, her deck definitely has ways around it." She adjusted her glasses. "Besides, this is our Eva we're talking about. There's no way she'd lose!"

 

* * *

 

"Draw! Charge and draw!" said Robbie, shredding on his guitar. He gave a short bark of laughter. "Ha! I'll set another Skull Moon! Then I'll transform into Black Shuck!"

He turned into the black-furred form of Shuck as his buddy's card was reshuffled into his hand.

"Equipment Change returns the equipped item when it's used. Though I guess in the Monster Mash deck it's really returning a monster?" said Sarah.

"I call Banshee Aibell, to the left! And Lone Wolf Amarok, to the right!"

The white wolf appeared, this time as a monster instead of Robbie turning into it. The only real difference now was the absence of his hat and guitar.

On the other hand, I hadn't seen this banshee monster before. An ethereal blue woman with a tattered dress, floating just off the ground with her long red hair flowing around her. Her face was skull-like, the eyes blank.

"Aibell, attack her monster!" said Robbie, pointing at Five-Knives Freddy.

The banshee floated towards him, opening her mouth to let out a blood-curdling scream. The sound alone seemed to destroy Freddy, who reformed.

"Guess who's back - _Freddy!_ " he said.

"Five-Knives Freddy returns with soulguard! But how did he even get destroyed in the first place? Doesn't Aibell only have 2000 power?" said Sarah. "She must have an effect that destroys any monster she attacks, like Dungeon World's own Stein Blade Joker!"

"Haunt triggers." said Eva. The ghostly figure who appeared beside her was very familiar - Murder Crow, the winged Slasher woman who frequently guarded her center. I guess she must have been in Eva's gauge, or discarded for her earlier spell.

"So? Aibell has double attack as well! Go!" said Robbie.

"Come and get me, b-" started Freddy, though he was interrupted by Eva before Aibell could even attack him.

"Cast - Benefit." said Eva, holding out the spell card. Her life ticked up twice and a card flew out of her lantern to her gauge.

The banshee, confused that her target was already gone, turned her skull-like head to stare at Eva. My teammate met her gaze with her usual neutral expression. Eventually Aibell floated back to Robbie's side of the field.

"Then I'll attack you myself!" said Robbie, leaping forward. He swung his guitar into Eva's side. Instead of falling down her buddy skill switched on for a moment to keep her upright, the eerie blue glow of her ghost lights flickering out as Robbie returned to his position.

"Then that means you don't have a shield!" said Robbie. "Amarok, attack the fighter!"

"I call Terror From The Sky, Murder Crow. To the center." said Eva, her life ticking down two points.

"Dead drop." said the winged woman, catching Amarok in her talons and flinging him aside.

"This is Horror World's unique keyword, Haunt!" said Sarah. "Every time one of Eva's monsters is destroyed one of her dropzone cards can 'Haunt' her set spell, which lets her call them back out!"

"Every monster you defeat will return to my Haunted Mansion." said Eva.

"Oh yeah? Well I'll just have to smash _your_ set spell!" said Robbie, clenching one of his claws.

"There isn't a single spell destruction card in Horror World." echoed Eva in her eerily flat monotone, her one uncovered eye staring unblinkingly at Robbie.

"Urk!" exclaimed Robbie, recognizing his own words from earlier. "Creepy little brat! I'll... I'll get you somehow!"

" _Ice cold_ , girl! Ice cold!" said Enterprise, laughing while he clapped slowly.

"[End of move. Your move.]"

 

* * *

 

"Fun fact, that's not even the most ice cold I've seen her in a fight!" said Dave. He grinned. "She's always so cool!"

"She's so calm and collected, especially in buddyfights." said Emily, fidgeting with her glasses. "But when she gets into a fight, she _really_ gets into it."

"Uh oh! Sounds like someone has a crush!" said Dave, putting an arm around Emily's shoulder

Emily giggled and shrugged Dave's arm off of her. "I'm _dating her_ , silly!" she said.

 

* * *

 

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/1/1 | 10/1/2

"Draw. Charge. Draw."

"I'll use my Skull Moon to turn back into my buddy!" said Robbie. "Haha! Now you can't even scratch my lifepoints!"

"Fine." said Eva, apparently unfazed. "Murder Crow, attack Aibell."

"You would do well to fear the sky." said the monster, taking off. The banshee turned to face her, opening her mouth to let loose a scream, but Murder Crow swooped behind her to divebomb straight through the spirit.

"[End of move. Your move.]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/2/2 | 9/1/2

"Little brat! You'll pay for taking out my monsters!" said Robbie. He played some notes on his guitar, even more frantic and aggressive than usual. "Draw! Charge and draw!"

"I'll transform back into Shuck!" he said, becoming the black wolf once again. "And I'll call the Headless Horseman Dullahan and the Lady of Blood Bathory - to the left and right!"

Like one of his other monsters, Clutchbone, the Dullahan was dressed in the armor of a knight. However, this one didn't even have a burning torch where her head should be. Instead she had her head held under one arm - eyes closed and with a calm expression on her face. Her other arm held a whip that resembled a human spine, and she was riding a pitch-black horse with glowing red eyes.

"Wait, is that Marchioness Elizabeth?" said Sarah, staring at the other monster.

The Lady of Blood really did resemble the Legend World monster - pale skin, blonde hair and a blood-red dress with a flower motif. Unlike her Wydar Sarkal counterpart she held no parasol - instead, Bathory was lounging on a large red victorian-style chaise lounge, lazily swirling a glass of red liquid in one hand.

"Whether or not she's the same monster, it seems Horror World really is the home of vampires!" said the announcer. "Maybe we'll even see the true vampiric form of Dragon Knight Vlad Dracula!"

"I wouldn't _count_ on it." said Enterprise.

"I'll attack your monster!" said Robbie, jumping forward to swing at Murder Crow with his guitar. She leapt out of the way, dodging his swings in the air a few times until he connected.

"Haunt triggers again." said Eva. The ghostly image of a little girl briefly appeared - Bloody Mary.

"Yeah? And I dare you to call out your new monster - Dullahan gives me a gauge every time she destroys one!"

Eva stared at her opponent for a moment. "I won't." she said.

"Don't even think about cheating out another Murder Crow - Bathory eats the souls of my monsters when they're destroyed! So trying to kill either of my monsters'll only make it worse for you!" said Robbie. "Dullahan, attack this creepy brat!"

The headless horseman (horsewoman?) readied her spine-whip. Her giant steed reared back, letting out a loud neigh before springing towards Eva. She struck at my teammate with the weapon.

"Yeah, not so smug now! Bathory, attack the fighter!"

"Blood Bats!" called out the vampire lady, in a cheery voice. She dipped her free hand in her glass, and flicked it out. Droplets of blood flew in the air, expanding into red bats which flew towards Eva.

"Call - Bloody Mary."

A mirror appeared, reflecting the arena but none of the people in it. Instead, only the tiny giggling girl named Bloody Mary was visible. The blood bats splatted against it, then the mirror cracked and shattered.

"I don't feel comfortable saying this monster's name, but she's stopped Bathory's attack!" said Sarah.

"Haunt triggers again." repeated Eva. A ghostly image briefly appeared, but this one was indistinct, and far too small to be a monster.

"Whatever that is, it's not gonna help you! You still need 9000 power to even hit my buddy!" said Robbie. "There's just no way around that!"

 

* * *

 

"It feels like there's something missing from this deck." said Emily. She gave the deck she was building for Eva an experimental shuffle, pulled out six cards and frowned a little before putting them back.

Eva watched her switch out a few cards before trying again. She was brushing Emily's pink hair, which was very long when not in her usual ponytail.

"Oh! I've got an idea!" said Emily, clapping her hands together. "I'd need to ask Kardor about it. Can you call him from his card, or...?"

Eva shook her head, and stood up. She walked to the mirror, and placed both her hands on the surface.

"Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary." she said.

Her reflection began changing to that of a much younger girl. Instead of black hair the reflection now had purple curls, and blank white eyes instead of green. The hands pressed against the inside of the mirror were covered in blood.

"Mary." said Eva. "We want to speak to Kardor. Please."

The mirror girl giggled in response. Kardor was now visible behind her in the reflection.

"Ladies."

Emily gasped, and clapped her hands in delight, any fear of Eva's buddy long gone through a combination of knowing the spooky girl's monsters from tuning fights and curiosity about seeing a new power. "That's amazing! You can use Mary's mirror magic too?"

"Eh? Is it magic?" said Kardor, scratching his mask with his hook. "It's just a thing we do in Horror World. I can just pop up in the back seat of a moving car. My wife can crawl out of TV screens, too. Lil Frankie can't, but we love her just the same."

"So is this a hereditary skill, or perhaps one caused by the unique conditions of Horror World's environment, or..." said Emily, opening her notebook.

Kardor scratched his head. "Look, Emily. My mom and pop were a wolfman and a frankenstein. Don't overthink it." he said. "Anyway, what did you kids need me for?"

"When you came here from Horror World, you brought the rest of that deck, right?" said Emily. "Did you bring cards that weren't in the deck?"

"Hmm?" he said. "All of the monsters are in it, like my girl Mary." he said, ruffling the mirror ghost's hair with his regular hand. "But I might have some items... and that impact... Let me check. Yeah, there's a weapon that you might be able to use..."

After a few moments of rummaging in his clothes he pulled out two cards. He reached his hand through the surface of the mirror, with it seeming to ripple around his arm.

 

* * *

 

"[End of move. Your move.]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/1/2 | 9/1/1

"Draw. Charge. Draw." said Eva. "My life is at five points."

"Yeah, so?" said Robbie.

Eva tilted her head to the side, her hair now covering the opposite eye. For a moment her mouth widened into a wicked grin as a wooden handle (with a blue flower painted on it) appeared in her hand. Her red eye (well, contact lens) was visible as she flicked the handle, revealing the razor blade inside.

"I equip the Haunted Blade, Infinite Razor." said Eva, her expression returning to normal. Well, normal for her.

"What is this even creepier new side of Eva? And somehow her razor blade weapon has not only been haunting her field, but now she can equip it for free?" said Sarah. "This match has suddenly picked up the pace!"

"Now _that's_ scary." said Enterprise. "A real carpeted-kitchen horror story."

"Skull Moon! I'll pay a life to transform back into my buddy!" said Robbie, becoming the armored wolf once again. "Not so smart equipping a weapon now! It won't deal any dam-"

He was (almost literally) cut off by Eva flicking the blade in his direction. His lifepoints ticked down by one, the only other evidence of the damage being a thin red line across his front and his own shocked expression.

"Infinite Razor can rest to deal one point of damage." explained Eva. "Cast - Memory Of Trauma." she said, one of her gauge cards floating into it.

The silhouette of a kneeling man appeared beside Eva, face in his hands. Waves of purple energy fanned out behind him, and between each was a different image - the clown-like Faceless Jack with knives in hand, the grotesque Grisly Mannequin set spell, Eva's own buddy Kardor brandishing his hook, the makeshift operating room depicted on the Spirit Transfusion card and another Murder Crow, wings poised as if mid-divebomb.

"Each Haunt card among the top five of my deck moves to the soul of Mansion." she said, reaching a hand into the purple haze. The two spell cards dissolved, and the other three flew into the building behind her. "Then I draw one card."

"That's, ah, one strange spell card." said Sarah. "But with an effect that powerful, it must be locked behind a lifepoint condition like her new weapon!"

"Call. Little Frankensteiner, to the right." continued Eva.

The little girl appeared in her bloodstained apron. "Yay! I get to play!" she said gleefully. She turned to face Eva. "Big sis, who are we playing with today?"

"Murder Crow." She tilted her razor to point towards the center position.

"Yay! My next-favourite big sis!" said Little Frankensteiner, who then looked across at the dullahan and the vampire countess opposite her. "Lots of big sisters today! Come on out and say hello, Miss Crow!"

The woman with wings stitched to her back emerged from Eva's set spell.

"Who am I to kill now?" she asked. "Tell me it's the knight. I want to sink my claws into her."

Eva shook her head. "The countess."

"Hmm. All skin and bones. Such a pity. The spoiled aristocrat it is." said Murder Crow. "Dead drop." she said, picking Bathory up in her talons (couch and all).

The vampire lady raised her glass in one last toast before falling to the ground and shattering.

"The razor." said Eva. She paused for a moment, before raising it in the air. "My razor lets me draw and gain a lifepoint when a monster is called from my set spell."

"Call - Sheet Ghost."

The monster appeared with an "Oooooooh."

"Cast - Killer Order. Cast - Fleshbound Book."

"These Horror World spells just have really gruesome names." said Sarah.

"No, Killer Order's a generic spell." said Enterprise. "You pay a lifepoint to get gauge or destroy a size 0 monster. You get more gauge if your opponent's sitting on too much gauge of their own."

"Tell me Fleshbound Book's not generic! I could go the rest of my life without seeing something that gross!" said Sarah, as an oversized book with what seemed to be a human face stretched over the cover spat cards out of its mouth.

"It is kinda rude to check her Facebook in the middle of the fight." said Enterprise.

"Sheet Ghost attacks Dullahan." The sheet engulfed the knight, who shattered. "Frankensteiner and Murder Crow link attack."

"Your puny monsters? Ha!" laughed Robbie. "Your razorblade trick caught me out, but they won't even scratch me!"

"Bloodlust Fever." said Eva, holding out the spell card towards Little Frankensteiner.

"Frankie's all pumped up!" said the tiny girl, fires burning in her eyes as she clenched a fist in front of her, her drill whirring madly in her other hand. Murder Crow gently wrapped her talons around Frankensteiner's shoulders, and they both flew over to strike at Robbie.

"She's a regular Frankenstein's monster herself with that spell!" said Sarah.

"Haven't you heard? In Horror World the ones who create those monsters are called Frankensteiners." said Enterprise.

"So what are their monster creations called?"

"Frankensteins?" he answered with a shrug.

"[End of move. Your move.]"

Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/2/2 | 5/1/1

"What do you _mean_ you didn't see that one coming? Some top-ranked fighter you are!" said Robbie to a screen he had opened in the air beside him. "And the rest of you! You haven't even tried to help us!"

"Grrr... Draw! Charge and draw!" he shouted, dragging his claws over the guitar's core without even trying to make it sound musical.

"Hahaha! This is more like it! You've gotten past my buddy's 9000 defense, but you're not going to get past this! I call Flatwoods Monster Gimi to the right!" said Robbie. "A monster with Move and _eleven thousand defense points!_ "

"Vrrrrrrrrr." said the monster. It was an indistinct shadowy figure that sort-of resembled the Ace of Spades on top of a skirt, with spindly arms bolted on the side and glowing red eyes in the center of the 'face'.

"Wait wait wait, eleven thousand?" said Sarah in surprise. "And this monster doesn't even have a call cost?"

"Don't even think about calling out another of your Crows - Gimi's size three, and I bet your monster can't hit something that big! I don't have any other monsters who'd even fit on the field with her, but it's worth it!" said Robbie. "Just me and my monster against the world!"

"Now I'll attack -" he began.

"Cast - Barbed Wire." said Eva. True to the name of the spell, glowing green barbed wire shot out of the card she was holding, wrapping around Robbie's wolf-like form to hold him in place.

"Barbed Wire's a mainstay generic card in decks the world over! It rests an item, and that's really all there is to it!" said Sarah. "I wish it was a Trap or Snare so it'd help my buddy, but it's never a bad card to have!"

"Unless your opponent isn't using items at all, but hey. Those decks are few and far between." said Enterprise.

"Gimi, attack Murder Crow!" snarled Robbie, straining against the restraints to point a claw at her.

Murder Crow took to the air as the Flatwoods Monster floated forwards. But it was no use - the shadowy monster grabbed onto her and she shattered.

"Haunt triggers, one last time." said Eva. Bloody Mary again.

"'Last time?'" said Robbie, the barbed wire fading away as his attack phase ended. "I've still got five lifepoints left, just like you!"

"No." said Eva. "You are not just like me. Buddy call from the soul of Haunted Mansion - Hookhand Man Kardor, to the center."

Her life and gauge ticked down. Kardor had finally planted the pumpkin flag of Horror World into the ground, now standing in front of his buddy.

"Time to reel 'em in!" he said.

"Eva's finally called out her buddy, the strange masked monster called Kardor!" said Sarah. "Unlike Robbie's buddy, who has been in play from the start, this is the first we've seen of the strongest Slasher monster! And Eva's all but declared that she's going to win next turn!"

"Gotta admire spooky girl's confidence." said Enterprise. "This time last year she was just as unshakeable, but didn't have anything to put forwards on top of that. Maybe it's her buddy that's changed that."

"My Razor's effect triggers." said Eva, placing her free hand on her lantern core gadget and drawing a card as her lifepoints increased.

"[End of move. Your move.]"

 

* * *

 

"He didn't switch to Shuck." I said. "Eva's got him on the defensive."

"Fun fact, he's been on the defensive all game!" said Dave, making jabs in the air with his fists as if boxing. "Eva's deck isn't as fast as ours, but the way she plays it makes it really hard to stop!"

Emily smiled, adjusting her glasses. "The card in her hand is the other new one her buddy gave us. She's already won this."

 

* * *

 

Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/0/2 | 5/2/1

"Draw. Charge. Draw. Razor." said Eva, dragging the blade across the air in between her and Robbie, leaving only that thin red line and a point of damage.

"Gimi moves to the center!" said Robbie, the monster moving in between the two fighters.

"Everyone, link attack." said Eva.

Kardor lifted Frankensteiner onto his shoulder (accompanied by a "Yay!" of delight from his daughter) and walked forward with the Sheet Ghost floating beside him.

"Hook. Hand. Hook. Hand. Hook. Hand." he chanted as he approached Robbie's monster, raising his hook for a strike.

"Cast - Graveyard Smash! I'll give my monster more power, more defense and a counterattack!" said Robbie, his monster's arms reaching out to grab Kardor. "And I'll destroy your buddy!"

"Hookhand Man Kardor's effect takes away counterattack, and all other effects." said Eva, her buddy's masked face betraying no emotion as Gimi's shadowy hands did absolutely nothing to him.

"So? I stopped your attack! That's all that matters! This wasn't the last turn!" said Robbie.

He suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hahahahaha! You really had me going for a second there!" bellowed Robbie. "But Gimi's still standing! And I've still got four lifepoints!" he said.

"And I've even got enough gauge to play the most powerful card in my deck!" He raised his hand as if about to start playing his guitar again. "You'd better pray I don't draw my impact, because-"

"Final phase."

Robbie's eyes widened in horror. "W-what?"

Eva stared at him. She held out a card in her hand. "Cast. Endless Haunt, Night Eternal."

Inky black fog flowed out of Eva's impact card as she let go of it. She folded her razor away, letting go of it as it drifted off to the side. She picked up her lantern core gadget, opened it up, and blew out the blue flame.

 

* * *

 

Robbie looked around in the near pitch-darkness. He was still in the form of his buddy, Ferrocious, but he could barely see a thing! Nothing but the glowing red eye of his Flatwoods Monster, Gimi.

Wait.

Eye?

Didn't she have _two_ glowing red eyes?

The red light moved closer. This close it was just barely possible to see that it was the eye of his opponent, Eva.

"Night Eternal lets a Slasher attack again." she said, before seeming to fade into the darkness.

"Gimi's... Gimi's got more defense than even your buddy can handle!" said Robbie, turning around to look for his opponent.

"It costs four gauge and four life." said Eva, from somewhere behind him. "Reduced by one for every Haunt card I control."

He turned, but she was nowhere to be seen. _Nothing_ could be seen in the 'endless haunt'.

"Every card haunting a spell gives power and critical to Kardor." said Eva. "A house built on a graveyard." said her voice, now from the opposite side.

Robbie saw flashes of movement out of the corner of his eye. Ghostly figures of Murder Crow, Bloody Mary and Faceless Jack were just barely visible, and vanished when he turned to face them.

"Kardor has destroyed your monster." said Eva's voice. "Now he has come for you."

Then, silence. And darkness. Robbie kept looking around frantically for something, anything. He tried to call up a screen to talk to his team in the buddy pit, but nothing happened.

"J-Johnny? Anyone?" said Robbie, his voice shaking. "I'm... I'm scared!" he cried out.

He felt a hand on his shoulder - No, too hard to be a hand. A metal hook? He looked over his shoulder, seeing only a white mask.

"Hello scared." said Kardor. "I'm dad."

Kardor punched Robbie square in the muzzle sending him flying. The dark fog faded away and light returned to the arena. Robbie's Horror World flag shattered, leaving only Eva's standing.

"[Winner: Eva Friday.]"

"Well, that was certainly an eerie end to this fight." said Sarah. "Eva's victory moves her team into the semi-finals."

 

* * *

 

"Aaaaand selfie!" said Dave, grinning as he took a picture of himself standing next to me, with Eva and Emily hugging in the background.

"Hey, yo, Natasha's little bro. We wanna talk to you guys." said Johnny, walking up to us with his brother in tow. I didn't really expect these two to want anything to do with us.

"We've been talking about it and we've figured out we've been huge jerks." said Johnny. "Just bullying people into joining our team? It ain't right."

"You think?" said Dave.

"So we're just letting everyone go if they want." said Johnny. "We'll start from scratch, fight our way back up to the top. We won't kick out people for being too weak like your sis, or stop them from leaving, like Mikey told us to..."

"Wait wait, timeout." said Dave. "Mikey? As in..."

"Michael Schwarzschild? Oh yeah, you two used to be buds, right?" said Johnny. "Yeah, he said I'd get another chance to rejoin the Warlords if we brought enough noob fighters onto one team."

"So, uh, he was trying to stop anyone forming new teams he didn't already know about?" I asked.

"Fun fact, that sounds like exactly the kind of convoluted scheme he'd go for." said Dave.

"Yeesh. You think it's bad being friends with him?" said Johnny. "Try being teammates. Even your sis is less of a drama queen."

"Nat used to be in wrestling club with me." said Robbie. "Ain't exactly ever been friends with her, but ever since she got her new buddy?"

"Tell me about it." I said. "Hey, uh, Johnny? You know how you were saying that stuff about Tess earlier?"

"Yeah, what about it?" he said, anger creeping into his tone.

"Uh, I kind of fought her a while back?" I said. "She said... well, she said a lot of things." She really did. The only buddyfighter I met who was anywhere near as talkative was Cassie Gemini. "But she said she missed talking to you."

"I think she'd be happy to be friends with you again." said Emily.

Johnny smiled. "...Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Y'know what? We'll be cheering for you guys this year!" he said. "But next time? We'll build an uber team like yours, where we work together to be the best buddyfighters we can be!"

"But we're not gonna be Team Trash any more! We're gonna be called something new, something inspiring!" said Robbie. "As soon as we get a new name, anyway."

"How about Team Awesome?" said Sphinxy, curling one of his paws as if it were a fist.

"Yeah." said Robbie. "Yeah! Team Awesome! I like the sound of that!"

"Dude, that is seriously lame." said Johnny, giving a sideways glance to his brother before looking back to us. "Buuuut it's better than being Team Trash again."

 

* * *

 

We didn't get to see what the announcer girl's buddy actually did. She fought against Pat, the cowboy from Team Shining Knights, and his deck kept her from ever having enough gauge to spend on a buddy call.

The duo who had replaced her to commentate on the match were Dave's dad and Stolas, the owl demon from the science department. They gave only a cursory overview of the fight, instead having a conversation about the day the two of them had gotten their lunches mixed up - Stolas was disappointed that there wasn't enough meat in the sandwiches, but Professor V had been surprised to open a box filled with live mice.

Emily's older brother, Dennis, went on to fight against the girl's teammate. Their buddy was one of the Hundred Demons, a cute girl in a fur-lined cloak. The fight was another victory for the Knights, meaning we still hadn't seen Cassie's deck in action outside of her flop against the Arcana Flash deck.

 

* * *

 

"My buddy casts Obituary, a card that shall power her ultimate game-ending impact!" declared a horned humanoid dragon, standing behind her buddy with a wizard staff in one hand and a Darkness Dragon World flag in the other. "So sayeth Death Wizard Dragon!"

Team Hotline had been drawn against the student council's team, Team Deadly Seven. The first round was the dragon-masked Juanita against MacOgre, a Danger World fighter with a thick scottish accent and a set of bagpipes for a core gadget.

"So, uh, I kind of had trouble talking to her when we bumped into Team Hotline?" I said.

"Fun fact, she's mute." said Dave. "Pretty sure she's not deaf, or else I have no idea how they talk to each other in those masks. Wouldn't put it past their aesthetic, though." he said.

"Yeah, she just threw the horns instead." I said, with a shrug.

"Fun fact, that's sign language for 'I love you'!" said Dave, sticking out his tongue and winking as he made that same sign. "Maybe she's noticed you're cute!"

I laughed. "If you say so."

The masked girl's deck had taken only a single extremely long turn, steadily trading out her lifepoints to build up a massive amount of gauge, draw power and field presence of Black Dragons, apparently with the intention of blowing them all up to fuel a single game-ending impact called Phantom Dust. She never actually buddy called, apparently deciding that she'd rather have her buddy declare moves for her than gain the single lifepoint.

Upon her impact failing to defeat her foe (due to a well-timed Shadow Crusader spell) she struck a pose - she spent the remaining turn of the fight in a dab.

"Ha, mood." said Dave.

Hotline's next fighters, the skull-masked Nina, had a much more conventional match against her opponent. Emily was off sitting with her brother and his team, probably chatting about the decks they had used in their own fights.

While we were watching the fight between Nina's Death Ruler deck (which she had named "Blood Money", presumably because it made the opponent pay extra life or gauge to do anything) and the student council president's Battle Deity Robo deck we were interrupted.

A red-haired girl had unexpectedly shown up to talk to us. She had what looked like an old-style camera hanging around her neck, complete with oversized lens.

"Eva? I know we don't talk much at club, but... Here!" she said, sounding nervous. She was holding out a pile of cards in front of her - a deck?

"Fun fact, you're Elly from the newspaper club, right?" said Dave.

The girl didn't meet his gaze.

Eva, equally silent, fanned out the cards in the deck. She stared at them.

"Huh. Fun fact, that's got a lot of cards you were using the first time we fought! You know that one deck you lost or whatever!" said Dave, looking over her shoulder. "Unless..."

He turned back to the photographer girl.

"We... We took it from her as a joke, okay?" she said, looking down. "We were going to give it back if she ever said anything, but..."

"But it's _Eva_ , and she _didn't_ say anything, so you thought..." said Dave, getting angrier with every word.

He stopped mid-sentence. Eva had grabbed onto the sleeve of his blazer.

"It's fine." said Eva.

"But..." started Dave.

Eva shook her head.

"I thought they had given it back by now, okay?" said Elly, waving her hands in front of herself. "It's just... they said during your fight that they still had it, and..."

"It's fine." repeated Eva.

"Hey, uh, is everything okay?" I said to Eva.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Dave. She still hadn't let go of his arm.

Eva silently looked at the Dragon World deck in her other hand.

"It's cool if you don't want to talk to us about it." said Dave. "But fun fact, we're your friends, and we're always here if you feel like saying anything."

"Yeah." I said. "Uh, I don't know exactly what you went through, but we're all friends here. You're not alone."

"Thank you." said Eva in a small voice.

Dave turned around. "Alright, you'd better be glad Emily isn't here because... huh."

The jumpy girl had fled while we were talking.

"Huh." I echoed. "I wonder what kind of Buddyfighters are on _that_ team." I said.

"Fun fact, there's not much point in checking." said Dave, shrugging.

"They are facing the Warlords." explained Eva.

 

* * *

 

"Hmm. Pathetic." said Nat, her arms crossed as Gael Khan squeezed her opponent in his claw.

"Natasha Zaitsev's Duel Dragon deck claims a no-damage victory in her team's very first round!" said Sarah.

The younger girl's Skull Warrior deck, prominently featuring her buddy Cat Shadow Aoihime, wasn't quite the same as mine. It was still a little discouraging seeing Nat defeat it with so little effort.

Tess' fight against the photographer girl, Elly, was just as one-sided. At least they both seemed to be having fun.

 

* * *

 

"Fun fact, you're going to be tough to beat, but I think my team's looking pretty great this year!" said Dave. We had met up with the Shining Knights on the way out after the fight between Meow Formation and the Warlords.

"It must be fate that we are to battle next." said Cassie. "You shouldn't blame yourself if a loss can't be avoided."

He laughed. "Well, good luck to you guys too!"

"Emily, I'm very proud of you." said Dennis, giving his sister a pat on the head. "If that last fight was any indication you've really reached a new level of deckbuilding."

"Eh? Thanks!" said Emily. "It took a lot of work to get everyone's decks up to scratch, and while I'm very happy to have built Eva's deck so well I think you might have the strongest deck I've ever put together."

"Cassie's an asset to our team, but people that close to each other can understand each other's fighting style on another level." said Pat. "Brother and sister, girlfriends, I almost get jealous."

Brother and sister...

"There's someone I want to meet in the finals." I said. "So, uh, I'm going to try my best to beat your team."

"We know who that someone is." said Pat. "Looks like Dennis wants a rematch against her too, and we're going to do everything we can to get him there."

"I think it's just a friendly rivalry." said Cassie. She put a finger to the corner of her mouth. "Although they _would_ make a cute couple."

"Like, I hear you talking about cuteness but I'm not here?" said Tess, walking in. "Should I be jealous?"

"Oh, hello Tess." said Dennis.

Pat just tipped his hat to her.

"Heyyyy~!" said Tess cheerfully. She pulled a sleeve back a bit, apparently just so she could twirl some of her long hair around a finger. I noticed she had red nail polish on this time. Which I guess maybe she had on all the time and I just couldn't see it? Oh well.

"We were just talking about which of our teams will make it to the final round." said Dennis. "Of course, I expect to see the Warlords there again. No offence meant to Team Hotline."

"Like, of course we'll be in the finals." said Tess, flipping her hair back. Her sleeves naturally fell back over her hand as she lowered it. "We all fought hard to get on the Warlords, so we're all totally excellent with our decks."

"Tess, we spoke to Johnny Thompson earlier. He said he might want to patch things up?" said Emily.

"Yeah yeah yeah." said Tess, waving a sleeve towards her. "I talked to him too and we're, like, totally buds again. This whole team thing got totally out of whack."

"It's always a pleasure to see you, Tess, but what brings you here now?" asked Dennis.

"Like, don't mind me. I'm just here to steal your teammate!" she said, linking arms with Cassie. "Congrats on making it to round two, guys!" she added, waving a sleeve towards the rest of us.

"Looks like we're all going our separate ways for the evening." said Pat, tipping his hat to us as he left.

"Again, my sincere congratulations." said Dennis, giving us a short bow. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Emily. Our parents asked us to keep them up-to-date." he added as an aside to the rest of us. Presumably that's what Emily was talking about with him earlier? "And I'll see the rest of you when our teams meet in battle."

We heard a soft neighing from his core deck case. Dennis laughed. "Oh, and Dalahast says good luck tomorrow." he added, before walking off.

Dave grinned, putting one hand on Eva's shoulder, and one on mine. "Anyway, fun fact, you guys did great out there!" he said. "But save some for me next time, okay?"

"Uh, you could always just go first or second?" I said. "I mean, if you want the next fight...?"

"Hey, yeah! Fun fact, my deck's way more aggressive than your ones, so we can get the second round off to a great start if I take the lead!" said Dave. "Round two, here we come!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> **Eva’s New Cards**  
>   
> 
> Recurring Nightmare, Five-Knife Freddy  
> Horror World|Slasher/Undead  
> "Few survive all five knives."  
> S2/4000/2/4000  
> [Call Cost] [Pay 1 gauge & Put the top card of your deck into this card's soul]
> 
> Haunted Blade, Infinite Razor  
> Horror World|Slasher/Weapon  
> "Soaked in blood, the blade seemed to take on a life of its own."  
> 3000/1  
> Item  
> [Equip Cost] [Pay 1 gauge & Pay 1 life & Discard a card from your hand]  
> If this card is in the soul of a non-monster card on your field, and your life is 5 or less, you may equip it without paying its [Equip Cost].  
> [Act] You may [Rest] this card. If you do, deal 1 damage to your opponent.  
> When a monster is called from the soul of a spell on your field, draw a card, and you gain 1 life. This ability only activates once per turn.  
> [Haunt]
> 
> Memory of Trauma  
> Horror World|Slasher/Draw  
> Spell  
> [Cast Cost] [Pay 1 gauge]  
> You may only cast this card if you have 5 life or less.  
> Reveal five cards from the top of your deck, put all cards with [Haunt] into the soul of a non-monster card on your field, and put the rest into your drop zone. If two or more cards were put into the soul of a card on your field, draw a card. You can only activate "Memory of Trauma" once per turn.
> 
> Endless Haunt, Night Eternal  
> Horror World|Slasher/Undead  
> Impact  
> [Cast Cost] [Pay 4 gauge & Pay 4 life]  
> Reduce the [Cast Cost] of this card by 1 gauge and 1 life for each card with [Haunt] on your field.  
> Choose a monster with [Haunt] on your field, and [Stand] it. For this turn, it can attack during the Final Phase, also it gets power+3000 and critical+1 for each card in the soul of a non-monster card on your field.
> 
>  
> 
>   
> **Robbie’s New Cards**  
>   
> 
> Flatwoods Monster, Gimi  
> Horror World|Monster Mash  
> "Vrrrrrrrrr! Vrrrrrrrrr!"  
> S3/2000/3/11000  
> [Move]
> 
> Lone Wolf, Amarok  
> Horror World|Monster Mash  
> "Amaroks are proud wolves! We hunt alone!"  
> S2/1000/3/1000  
> If there are no monsters on your field, this card gets critical+1.  
> [Transform] [Equipment Change]
> 
> Lady of Blood, Bathory  
> Horror World|Monster Mash/Undead  
> "Welcome to my castle~! Stay for a drink or two~!"  
> S2/5000/2/3000  
> [Call Cost] [Pay 1 gauge]  
> When another monster you control is put from your hand or field into the drop zone, you may put that card into the soul of this card.  
> [Soulguard]
> 
> Terrible Critter, Hodag  
> Horror World|Monster Mash  
> "A beast said to only eat all-white bulldogs, though it will hunt almost any animal."  
> S2/5000/2/3000  
> [Act] "Fearsome Fraud" Destroy this card. If you do, put a spell with [Set] from your deck or drop zone into your hand. If you searched your deck, shuffle it. You may only use "Fearsome Fraud" once per turn.
> 
> Headless Horseman, Dullahan  
> Horror World|Monster Mash/Undead  
> "No wall, no lock, no chained fence, no barred door - none of it can halt this headless knight."  
> S1/5000/2/1000  
> When this card attacks and destroys your opponent's monster, put the top card of your deck into your gauge.
> 
> Banshee, Aibell  
> Horror World|Monster Mash/Undead  
> "The keening of a banshee foretells certain death for the listener, one close to them, or often both."  
> S1/2000/1/2000  
> [Call Cost] [Pay 1 gauge]  
> When this card attacks a monster, destroy that monster.  
> [Double Attack]
> 
> Graveyard Smash  
> Horror World|Monster Mash/Enhance/Get  
> Spell  
> Choose and use one of the following effects.  
> Choose a card with [Transform] from your drop zone, and add it to your hand.  
> [Counter] Choose a «Monster Mash» in battle, and for this battle, give it power+3000, defense+3000, and [Counterattack].


	16. Cassie Gemini Lives A Charmed Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first match of the second round, and Dave gets in a fight that's over before it even begins.

Emily sat up in bed, yawning. She stretched her hands above her head, and reached over for her glasses, then her phone. She opened her morning checklist.

"Glasses, check!" That one was easy.

"Brush teeth, check!" she said, ticking it off her list before starting. It'd be hard to say that while actually brushing her teeth, of course.

"Get dressed, check!" No excuse to wear a labcoat today, so skirt and blouse. Nothing as fancy as her girlfriend was sure to wear.

She giggled, and added a note to hug Eva later.

"Ponytail, check!" she said, putting a scrunchie in her hair to tie it up into her usual high ponytail. Not as long as Tess' waterfall of hair, but it still got in the way if she didn't tie it back. She turned her head to see her hair in the bathroom mirror, and nodded in approval.

"Core gadget." she said, looking around briefly. Not mixed in with the other decks she was building, not in the arms of her favourite stuffed panda (named T. Edison, currently holding a Hero World deck she hadn't tested yet). "Core gadget?" she repeated, before spotting the core deck case on her bedside stand, next to the photo of her family. "Check!"

She looked at the rest of her checklist - meet Dennis, video call with mom and mom, meet Eva, hug Eva, meet Dave and Timo, tournament matches. Okay, only one last thing to check before she could leave.

"Gorgas, are you awake yet?" she said with a smile.

The dragowizard emerged from his card in his chibi form, yawning as Emily had been a while earlier. He was wearing a pointed sleeping cap.

"My apologies, I was burning the midnight oil adding to my upcoming paper. Publish or perish, as they say." said the blue dragon, switching the nightcap for his usual feathered hat.

"Applications Of Alternating Currents In Constructing Class Seven Seals?" she recited, flipping open her notebook with one hand and adjusting her glasses with the other. She had designed the experiment in lieu of actually solving math problems in class a month ago, copying the diagrams into her notebook so she'd be able to test her theories in the lab.

"With proper attribution to the hard work of one Miss Emily Primrose." he said, giving a slight bow. "I'm sure our theories will be well-received, and if time allows you may even be able to present this paper alongside me."

"Wasn't the last time you presented a paper your thesis defense?" said Emily, flipping back to much earlier in her notebook.

"Aha, yes!" said Gorgas. "But not to worry! Even though Magic World scholars can get spirited about discussions, this shouldn't need as much literal fighting. A human should be fine to take part in that kind of lecture."

"Although the snake fight portion of thesis defense _is_ becoming standard practice..." He said, putting a claw to his mouth.

 

* * *

 

"Our teams won our first round matches." said Dennis, speaking towards the camera on his laptop. "In fact, we've been drawn up against one another, so whoever wins is in the final."

"We're very proud of you both." said Jackie, clasping her hands together on the screen as she smiled.

"But now you've got to fight for our love!" said Penny, raising a fist. "Fight fight fight fight fight!" she chanted, her pink hair flopping around as she swayed left and right.

Jackie giggled. "What she means is that no matter which team wins, we'll be very happy our dear children made it this far. We'll love you both, no matter what happens."

Penny laughed. "Of course! Everyone loves the Primroses!" She put an arm around her wife, pulling her into a brief hug. "It's why I took your name, after all!"

"Oh, and speaking of love..." said Jackie. Both of them leaned towards the camera, hands raised in anticipation and their eyes sparkling.

"We hear you're dating someone!" said Penny. "Is it your new teammate?"

"The one who just got their buddy?" added Jackie.

"Eh? No!" said Emily, waving her hands in front of herself. "Timo's a boy, so I don't see him that way."

Dennis chuckled. "She's dating her other teammate, actually."

"Ehhhhh?" said Jackie in surprise, really drawing out the sound. "The shy girl in the sweater?"

"She hasn't dressed that way in quite a long time." noted Dennis.

"I've only really been going out with Eva for a week or so, but we've liked each other for a long time." said Emily, smiling with a little bit of a blush on her face. "Here's a picture of my team." she said as she sent her parents the photo of Team Serendipity in front of the founder's statue.

Both of her mothers let out a high-pitched squeal of delight.

"Look, Penny!" said Jackie. "What a lovely dress!"

"Oh, Jackie! They're holding hands!" said Penny.

Dennis laughed a little again. "I heard that Eva sent Emily a love letter. Cassie told me this whole strange story about it." He shook his head. "Honestly, I can't fathom what my teammates are thinking sometimes."

There was a sly smirk on Penny's face. "Love letter?" She repeated it, practically singing the words. "Lo~ove letterrrr~!"

"We're very happy for you." said Jackie.

"And are you holding hands with someone now, Dennis?" said Penny, moving her head in close to the camera so most of it was taken up by one of her sparkling blue eyes.

"Not at the moment, no." he answered. "If I'm to be honest, there's a lady in my year who caught my eye at the last tournament, but that's..."

"Oh Jacaranda!" said Penny, raising a hand to her head as she fake-swooned against Jackie. "All this talk of young love, it reminds me of our schooldays!"

"Penelope!" said her wife in admonishment, unable to keep the amusement from her voice.

"Oh! And I've been making lots of progress in deckbuilding too!" said Emily. "I can't really test as many now that I have a buddy who's only playable under one flag, but I did build decks for my whole team again. And Dennis asked me to help with his!"

"Again, I really appreciate that." said Dennis. "And after seeing your team in the first round Pat insisted my team meet up to talk strategy before our matches."

"I've got to meet up with Eva, too." said Emily.

Penny laughed. "I see, I see. Well, we won't keep you two."

"Bye! We love you!" said Jackie, waving.

 

* * *

 

On the way to Eva's dorm room, Gorgas emerged from Emily's core deck case. He was in his SD form again (though this time already wearing his feathered hat).

"Emily, do you feel that strongly about our buddy contract interfering with your deckbuilding?" he asked.

"Eh? No, there's no problem!" said Emily, waving her hands. "It's just that, well, you saw that one Arcana Flash deck working better with Darkness Dragon World support?"

"Really, I'm fine with fighting for Magic World in tournaments." she said. "I've got Dave, Eva and Tess to help me test my decks, not to mention my brother, and now I've got Timo."

"That's Danger, Horror, Dragon, Legend and Katana World." said Gorgas, counting them off on his claws.

"Don't forget Magic World!" said Emily. "I've been trying to rebuild my own deck, as well as a neat 72 Pillars variant with tech set spells, borrowed from..."

"Even with Magic World I'm concerned. I don't want to hold back the development of your deckbuilding skills." said Gorgas.

"If I fight in this tournament, I promise I'll be fighting for Magic World with you as my buddy." said Emily. "I was up last night working too!"

"Oh?" said Gorgas, stopping.

"I built a new Magic World deck, one that I've focused on every detail of!" said Emily, continuing to walk. "It's absolutely perfect for us, and it'll show you just how in-sync we are that..."

"Hold that thought Emily, you've gone past Eva's room." chuckled Gorgas, from a few doors behind her.

"Eh?" said Emily, stopping in her tracks. "Whoops, you're right!"

After doubling back, and after Gorgas returned to her core deck case, Emily knocked on the door. "Eva, we're here!"

The door opened. Eva stood in the doorway, her perfectly tidy room visible behind her. Carefully-handwritten notes in a pile one one side of a closed laptop on her table, with library books in a small stack on the opposite side. An empty teacup sat on a saucer on that same table. Assorted plush toys sat in neat rows on her bed - Emily recognized a Jackknife Dragon plush Dave had given to her as a joke along with her real birthday present (a black cat plush, visible next to the famous buddy).

One of Eva's dresses (black, with white frills) was on display on a dress form mannequin - Emily knew she had only added that to the room a week or so ago, apparently at the insistence of the newspaper club's head.

Meanwhile Eva was wearing a purple dress with a pretty blue flower pattern dotted around the skirt, a large bow on the back and a smaller bow at the neck. Her hair was held out of the way of one eye by two small hairpins.

"Eva, you look so cute today!" said Emily, pulling the other girl into a hug.

"Thank you." said Eva, after hugging back in silence for a few moments. "You look nice, too."

"Oh, this?" said Emily, pulling away. "I just threw on some clothes I had lying around."

After Eva had locked her door, she reached for Emily's hand. The two of them started walking.

"I'm really proud of you for winning that fight last round." said Emily. "If anyone can beat my brother's team, I know it's my three best friends!"

Eva nodded a little. Emily continued speaking, "Dave's fighting first, right?"

"Yes." said Eva. "We haven't decided the rest of the order."

Emily giggled. "Well, we'll just have to wait and see if Dave can beat Dennis!"

 

* * *

 

TEAM SERENDIPITY  
1.  
David "Dave" Vervayens / Danger World / Armorknight Sphinx 'A'. "Feline Lucky" - Retaliation Ace.  
Soccer club  
The reckless gambler of Serendipity. Flirts with everyone anywhere near his age. Knows a useless fact for every occasion. The son of one of the academy's history teachers and an explorer whose exploits made her an honorary Adventurer.  
Fun fact: Spent the first few years of his life living in Dungeon World.  
Nina: He goes all-in on his weapon, so deal with that first.  
Eva: A true friend.

 

* * *

 

I looked at the screen in the buddy pit. Dave was on stage, opposite the green-haired Cassie.

"I, uh, kind of expected them to lead with your brother." I said. "He really seems like more of a 'lead from the front' kind of guy."

"I know! He usually is!" said Emily. She flipped through her notes. "His team did have a strategy meeting earlier today, so maybe one of them suggested sending Cassie out first?"

I flipped to Cassie's profile on my phone.

Her photo was of her holding Recon under one arm, the word "CHARM" on its face. She was smiling, and making a peace sign with her free hand.

 

* * *

 

TEAM SHINING KNIGHTS  
Cassandra "Cassie" Gemini / Star Dragon World / Dragonarms Reconnaissance. "Dusk To Dusk" - Unknown deck type.  
Calligraphy club, Fortunetelling club  
The ethereal seer of the Shining Knights. A former Legend fighter who picked up Star Dragon cards because her horoscope said a change to a new deck would bring her great luck, and "what deck could be newer than one from the future?" The newest member of Shining Knights. Known to have missed many buddyfighting classes due to health issues, though much fewer this year than before.  
Fun fact: Always gets 100% on multiple-choice tests, but otherwise average in grades.  
Nina: I have no damn idea how this girl wins fights. The one time we tried to spy on her she had fresh coffee ready for me. The good stuff, too. Who even does that?  
Eva: Use extreme caution.

 

* * *

 

"'Unknown' deck type?" I asked. While their information hadn't always been completely accurate it felt strange that Eva and her odd masked friends hadn't been able to dig up _something_ about a fighter's deck.

"We've never seen her win with that deck." said Eva. "Black Dragon G was repelled by her buddy."

That Dragonarms? I guess a recon robot from the future _could_ beat out a swarm of tiny insect dragons in that respect. Maybe it had some kind of futuristic bug-zapper built in.

"So she's never won a fight with Star Dragon World?" I asked, puzzled as to why that would be an issue.

Eva shook her head, a tiny side-to-side motion. "She has more recorded wins than losses this year."

"Uh, how did that happen?" I said, genuinely confused. "She wins but nobody _sees_ her winning?"

Emily just shrugged. Eva gave no reply, so I continued.

"Not even her opponents?" I said. "I mean yeah, she could obviously just not fight on stage if she didn't want to be recorded, but there are buddyfight classes too. Uh, does her buddy do something with memory, or illusions?"

Eva shook her head again.

"Maybe there's some other secret to her deck." said Emily. "But we know her buddy's power is to see the future. Or the 'last cycle of time' as she kept saying." she said dismissively, practically rolling her eyes at the term.

"Uh, doesn't Magic World have some divination magic as well?" I asked. I knew Emily had an Actor Knights deck, but she always seemed weirdly dismissive of fortune-telling for someone who knew actual wizards.

"Most divination is just pseudo-science." she said. "Pseudo-magic?" she shared a look, then a shrug, with her buddy. She continued.

"You can use magic to tell where objects are, and predict their motion to some extent, but humans and monsters aren't always that predictable." she said, adjusting her glasses. "Science is all about gathering repeated results to prove or disprove theories, but most branches of astrology have been refuted in research. Crystal ball fortune-telling is just a brand of cold-reading, albeit one that takes a lot of skill. You can't reliably see the future like that."

"Her buddy is _literally_ from the future." I countered.

"My mom's deck has a valkyrie monster called Skuld, Lamenter Of The Future." said Emily. "Her power can rearrange your next few draws, but there are all sorts of ways that future can be changed. Nobody has that kind of knowledge, and no monster can create an unchangeable destiny. Not even one from the future."

We had all met Meteor Rain, the monster that had been buddies with Dave's dad for 30 years and who was somehow a more skilled fighter than his human buddy, so we all knew it was very possible for a monster to be much more scheming than their human buddy. But Recon's power genuinely seemed to be focused on predicting information instead of somehow hiding it. Could there be something we're missing?

"I guess there's no way around it." I said, with a sigh. "Dave's going into this one blind. And I don't think he's ever seen a real Star Dragon World deck, much less _fought_ one."

Emily's fight with Cassie was pretty much the definition of inconclusive. It wasn't likely that her deck only had the Dragonarms support monsters.

"All we can do is support him." Emily said nodding in agreement. "This could be a tough fight."

I looked at the screen showing the fight stage. The camera pointing to Cassie's side showed her buddy. I knew it couldn't see or hear us, but the word scrolling continuously across its screen was "TRUTH TRUTH TRUTH TRUTH TRUTH".

 

* * *

 

"Dave Vervayens, I made a prediction earlier today." said Cassie, a polite smile on her face. "It may be sad to hear, but my tea leaves told me you wouldn't get to take even a single turn in this match."

"Really?" said Dave with a grin. "Fun fact, I won't let you go for a one-turn kill!"

"Oh no, that's not it at all." she said, turning her core deck case into that crystal ball, and holding it out to the side.

Her buddy continued silently showing the same word on its monitor - "TRUTH".

Sarah, the announcer girl in her trademark purple outfit, started speaking over them. "Good morning, Karras Academy! The first round had some amazing fights, but here's hoping the second round lives up to it! With me today is Team Hotline's Karl."

"What's up." said the sleepy-looking boy, a bottle of soda in front of him. "Got my drink, got my mic, let's do this."

"The stars move through the sky, with or without us watching." said Cassie, her crystal ball floating beside her. "Luminize - Dusk To Dusk!"

Dave pointed his staff at Cassie. "I've got a question for you! Luminize - Feline Lucky?"

 

* * *

 

"[Winner: Cassie Gemini]"

Dave looked around. He wasn't holding the flag. He looked at his lifepoints. They weren't at 10 as they should be at the start of every Buddyfight.

They were at 0.

"Wait, _what?_ " he said, an expression of shock on his face.

 

* * *

 

I blinked. "Uh, what just happened?"

"The fight was just about to start, right?" said Emily.

"Something is wrong." said Eva. "It's already over."

And then all of a sudden bits and pieces of the fight flooded back into my head.

 

* * *

 

Cassie's buddy combining with some kind of bipedal blue Neodragon with glowing lines running all across it.

Dave trying to pull a card out of his core gadget and failing.

Cassie holding out an arm to the side as a glove materialised on it, staring at the fingers as if inspecting her nails.

Dave taking a seemingly unending barrage of attacks from the Neodragon, from another Neodragon made of blue crystal, from Cassie's glove.

 

* * *

 

"I... what?" said Sarah. "The match hasn't... or did it... _what_?" she said, at a loss for words.

"And someone drank my soda." said Karl, an empty bottle now in front of him.

Sarah put a hand up to her earpiece. "Sorry, I'm just getting word that the match _did_ happen. As amazingly unbelievable as it sounds we've all... forgotten it?" she said, still confused.

"I've been told to say we're taking a break from the schedule to rewatch this fight that we've apparently _already_ commentated on?" She shrugged.

 

* * *

 

"Time to raise the flag!", said both fighters.

"Danger world!" said Dave.

"Star Dragon World." said Cassie, the futuristic flag floating behind her.

"The first turn goes to Cassie Gemini!" said Sarah. "Only time will tell what deck has replaced her Stars from last year."

"Charge and draw." said Cassie, tapping the base of her crystal ball to draw a new card. "I cast Fate Information."

"Staying very much on-theme, the academy's resident fortuneteller girl has played a card that takes a look through the upcoming cards of her deck." said Sarah.

"It doesn't search for a card but whatever. She can take an item or a monster from those cards, so long as it's not size 3." said Karl. "She's picked some monster, fair enough."

"Wonderful, he can join us this time. Just as I predicted." said Cassie, smiling. "I call Fourth Dimension Mobius, to the right."

She flicked the card off to the side with two fingers. A humanoid dragon in sleek futuristic blue and green armor with a full-face helmet appeared. His armor and mechanical wings were decorated with bright yellow lights, including a prominent infinity symbol on his chest. He was holding a sword made of the same light.

"I am the eighth wonder of the world!" said Mobius.

"So do you think fortunetelling is real?" asked Sarah to her co-commentator. "Crystal balls and tarot cards?"

"All I know is that classic Super Famicom title Tarot Mystery has a buffer overflow if you ask it a question that's 255 pages long." said Karl.

"...Interesting if true?" said Sarah, apparently unsure of what to add to that.

"I'll buddy call Dragonarms Reconnaissance, to the left. And it will crossnize with Mobius."

"TRUTH." flashed on the screen of the orange Dragonarms, and it jumped in the air, reforming into a visor that slotted down over Mobius' eyes. The default face of Cassie's buddy was showing again - a simple blank expression of anger.

"I call Dragonarms Charger to the left, who crossnizes with Mobius." said Cassie. "I can then pay a gauge to draw a card. Thank you, Charger." she added, as a blue-and-white centaur robot briefly appeared on the field, before reassembling itself into armor for Mobius.

"I call Dragonarms Silt Fighter to..."

"Let me guess, to the left so it can crossnize with Mobius?" said Dave. "Fun fact, I'm starting to see a pattern."

"That's wonderful!" said Cassie, tilting her head as she smiled. "Then you'll understand that Silt Fighter's effect replaces the gauge I spent for Charger."

The starship-like Dragonarms with the perpetual expression of surprise flew out, and quickly reformed into another set of wings for Mobius, who already had several.

"Mobius, please attack the fighter." said Cassie. "Oh, and Recon adds a card to my gauge when he does."

"Of course, Cassie." said the neodragon, nodding towards her. "Time Slice!" he said, slashing at Dave with his laser sword.

"Final phase!" said Cassie. "I pay one gauge and move three cards from the soul of Mobius to the drop zone to use his special ability."

"Time Regression!" said the neodragon.

Part of the infinity symbol on his chest glowed brightly. Recon, Silt Fighter and Charger reformed out of the armor they had added to Mobius, each shattering once they completed splitting off. The glow then moved rapidly counter-clockwise around the symbol for a few seconds. Dave raised an arm to shield his eyes as there was a bright flash, but afterwards the glow was gone.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]."

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/2/6 | 11/2/3

"Huh?" said Dave, lowering his arm. He burst into laughter. "That's it?"

"Fun fact, I kind of thought that was going to be some big surprise move that knocked out all of my lifepoints. But it didn't drop them by one! Anyway, draw!" he said, reaching for the core on his staff.

No card appeared.

"Draw!" he repeated. "Draw?" he said, a third time, his expression turning to confusion.

"Draw." said Cassie, tapping two fingers to the core below her crystal ball. To Dave's astonishment, a card emerged. "Charge and draw!" she continued, in a cheerful tone.

"Wait, what?" said Sarah.

"Time out!" said Dave, making a 'T' with his hands.

"Hmm?" said Cassie, putting a finger to the side of her mouth and tilting her head slightly.

"You can't draw! Fun fact, it's my turn?" said Dave. "Isn't it?" he added, sounding less sure.

"But that's what Mobius does." she replied. "He moves us forwards in time, to my next turn. So this is turn two of three!" she said, raising two fingers in a peace sign.

 

* * *

 

I realized now what Pat was joking about, back during Cassie's fight with Emily. "Pat blows away gauge, Dennis blows away his own deck... and Cassie _blows away her opponent's turns_!" I said. Is this why nobody remembered the fight?

Emily gasped. "The deck I built for Dave is pretty good but it doesn't _destroy time_!" she said.

 

* * *

 

"Cassie's former deck based around Legend World's Star monsters was a tough defensive deck!" said Sarah. "But her amazing Neodragon combo moves her into her second turn without giving Dave even a single chance to attack!"

"I cast Number Of Staff." said Cassie. Her set spell appeared as a strange-looking machine - a pile of random Dragonarms parts were in a big bubble atop a pillar, and the outside was transparent, showing servo arms affixed to the inside. "Three Dragonarms move from my dropzone to its soul. Then, I call Siltfighter using my spell's effect."

The machine whirred into life, arms grabbing parts to piece together a Siltfighter. Finally, after arms with little spraypaint cans had added blue and red markings to the unpainted monster, it rolled out of a flap at the bottom of the machine. Cassie's gauge increased as the newly-rebuilt Siltfighter flew into position.

"Next, I'll equip my Star Hand, Arms Controller." she said, as her right arm became encased in a black glove with glowing lines, with the wrist and elbow then encircled in a strange blue metal. She held it out to the side, moving her fingers as if admiring her nails.

"Arms Controller lets me discard a card and pay one gauge to move my buddy back into the soul of Mobius." she said. "It's like they were fated to meet again. Isn't it wonderful?"

"You're really about this whole fate thing, aren't you?" said Dave.

"When I was young, I was told I had a rare heart condition." said Cassie, placing her ungloved hand over her heart as she spoke. "The doctors said they couldn't tell me how long I'd last. So every day I would check my horoscope everywhere. Every magazine, newspaper and website. I just wanted to know if any of them would tell me that this was my last day."

She smiled. "None of them ever did, and it made me interested in other ways that could tell my fortune. Crystal balls and tarot cards."

"Huh. That's really not what I was expecting. I picked my own getup because I thought it looked cool, and fun fact? That's making me feel a little selfish right now." said Dave. "Are you still...?"

She shook her head, giving a strangely sad smile. "Just a few years ago, they found a monster from one of the other worlds who had almost the same thing wrong with her. She couldn't be saved, but from her they learned how to cure me. I was never even told her name, but because of her I was given a chance to come to this Academy, where I met my dear friends and buddies."

"Fun fact, there are monsters who I think of as really close friends, but I've never even thought about people who wouldn't be around without them." said Dave.

"Ever since, every day I've spent buddyfighting with my friends has been a blessing. I live a charmed life." she said, and raised one finger on each hand in front of herself, then moved her hands so one of the fingers was entirely in front of the other. "Because I carry the fate of myself and that monster together."

"It's why I like Dragonarms. They're as alive as you and I, but when two of them break down they can live on by making one working Dragonarms again." concluded Cassie.

"That's just such a sad story!" said Dave, looking as if he was about to cry on her behalf.

"Dave, we can't get distracted by everyone's melodramatic backstories!" said Sphinxy. "We need to think of a way out of her combo!"

"Oh, right, yeah, the fight." he said, snapping his fingers. A screen opened in the air next to Dave. "Got anything?" he asked, though it wasn't clear which of us he was talking to.

"It's really not as sad as you think. I could still fight, even if I had to be more careful." said Cassie. "I call Dragonarms Emergence from my hand, to the left.". Another Dragonarms resembling a starship fighter appeared. Unlike Silt Fighter's streamlined design the nose of this ship ended opened into some kind of futuristic cannon.

"Emergence, please attack the fighter." said Cassie. "Mobius, you're next to attack."

"I am at your command, now and forever." said Mobius as he nodded, looking at Cassie's opponent. The fixed expression of anger from Cassie's buddy was still visible on his visor

"Time and tide wait for no man!" he said, slashing at Dave.

"Cast! Battle Aura Circle!" said Dave. "Fun fact, this stops your Mobius' attack from connecting, so you don't get more gauge from your buddy!"

"That's fine." said Cassie. "He doesn't need to deal any damage to use his effect, and neither does Dragonarms Emergence. I pay a lifepoint to move it into the soul of Mobius."

"But that means..." started Dave, his eyes darting to Mobius then back to his opponent.

Cassie tilted her head, smiling. "Yes, Mobius has three soul again. It's wonderful - I can use his effect all over again, to take a third turn! But first, I attack."

She waved her gloved hand towards Dave and ribbons of green energy streamed out, striking at him.

"Final phase!" said Cassie. "Mobius uses his effect, and it's my turn one last time."

"Let us do the time warp, again!" declared Mobius, as his infinity symbol glowed. "Time Regression!"

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]."

Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/2/6 | 10/1/0

Without missing a beat, Cassie tapped her core gadget. "Draw. Charge and draw. Cast, Star Jack Boost."

"Amazing!" said Sarah. "Cassie begins her third turn in a row, not even giving her opponent a chance to draw a single card! And since she's still on ten lifepoints she can use Star Jack Boost to gain a gauge and draw a card!"

"Alright, guess there's nothing else to say about this fight now." said Karl. He opened his soda, and began chugging it while Sarah gave him a sidelong look of disapproval.

"Number of Staff calls Dragonarms Charger, who crossnizes with Mobius to let me draw a card." said Cassie, giving a delighted clap as the reassembled monster was given a fresh coat of blue paint. "And Arms Controller lets me move Recon back into the soul of Mobius. I call the Star Dragon, Luminous Blue to my left."

Another humanoid Neodragon appeared, this one wearing blue crystalline armor. He held a sword in each hand, the blades glowing red-hot.

"Luminous Blue gains 1000 power and defense for every soul in my cards - one in Number of Staff, two in Mobius." said Cassie. "And when he attacks he moves a monster from my dropzone into the soul of one of my Neodragons. Luminous Blue, attack the fighter."

"Star Heart Slasher!" shouted Luminous Blue, slashing across Dave with each of his blades.

Talnada, the strange sad Dragonarms Cassie had called to fight Emily before, appeared from the dropzone to merge with Mobius. Cassie's gauge increased as it did.

"Mobius, attack the fighter!" said Cassie.

"Arms Controller lets me attack as well." she said.

Dave's Danger World flag shattered as he was struck by the green energy ribbons again.

"[Winner: Cassie Gemini]"

 

* * *

 

"Cassie, do you have any idea why nobody here remembers watching that fight?" asked Dennis.

"Oh?" she said, tilting her head in thought. "I'm a little relieved to hear that. I thought I had zoned out for the fight again." smiling a little.

"Cassie, are you feeling alright?" said Dennis, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We know you've had health problems before. If you think you're blacking out in fights..."

She shook her head and smiled, placing her hand over his. "It's fine." she said. "I have the two of you to look out for me, and the help of our buddy monsters." she said, removing that hand to pat Dalahast on the head. The wooden horse whinnied softly.

"You should go to the nurse's office, just in case." said Pat. "But it wasn't just _you_ missing that fight."

"I can't imagine what could have caused that. Recon?" said Cassie, looking at her buddy. The Dragonarms extended its arms to give a shrug. "Maybe we should ask my other buddy monster."

"Your... _other_ buddy monster?"

"Yes. Fourth Dimension Mobius." said Cassie. "I threw the I Ching that morning and it said I would have great fortune when opening booster packs, and there he was - a second Buddy Rare."

"Cassie, this is serious." said Dennis. "Star Dragon World has only been in contact with Earth for a matter of months, and you had a second buddy you didn't tell anyone about? Not even your friends?"

"But I did." said Cassie. She put a finger to the corner of her mouth. "I registered him as another official buddy monster, just like you asked."

"Just like... _I_ asked?"

"Looks like she's right. Mobius and Recon are both registered as her buddy monsters on the database." said Pat, putting away his phone. "And it looks like it's me who registered Mobius."

Pat put a hand on his hat. "This one's my bad." he said. "Cassie mustn't have crossnized them together in one of our fights, so I remembered that one."

Cassie looked at her Dragonarms buddy, who simply shrugged instead of showing a word on his screen. Mobius emerged from his card, too, albeit in his SD form.

"Forgive me." said Mobius, bowing respectfully towards the two boys. "I believed we had already met."

 

* * *

 

"I see. So you really didn't know this was happening?" said Dennis.

"Not at all." said Mobius. "In Star Dragon World it would be commonplace, but here on Earth my power to influence time is limited. As is that of Reconnaissance."

The orange robot flashed "TRUTH." on its screen.

"In fights where Cassie called only one of us, nothing peculiar happened." said Mobius, as both monsters bowed their heads. "We were truly unaware of our respective powers still working in this manner."

"I don't think anyone could have expected that two buddy monsters could produce that effect by accident." said Dennis. "And it genuinely seems like no harm was intended. We should definitely inform the Buddy Police office to watch out for that kind of reaction between Neodragon and Dragonarms buddy monsters."

Pat nodded. "If it's agreed this had no bearing on the outcome of the fight, then it looks like we've still got at least one match today. If that's the case I'll take point, and Dennis will report this."

"What about Mobius and Recon?" asked Cassie.

"You registered them as your buddies, so there's no problem." said Pat. "Looks like I should go look over my deck, if I'm up next. Wouldn't want any more surprises today." He turned to walk away.

 

* * *

 

"Cassie? Cassie Gemini?" said a girl. Bushy purple hair with goggles in it, a few years older than Cassie.

"Oh? Yes, that's my name. Hello." she answered.

"I watched your fight earlier. And up on stage you reminded me... reminded me of a dear friend I once had." said the older girl.

"Have we met before?" asked Cassie, tilting her head to look at the girl. Bushy purple hair, goggles, a leather jacket. Dark-blue eyes that wouldn't quite meet her own.

"Nah, I'm just some nobody who enjoyed your fight. You'll probably forget me anyway." she said. "Laters."

"What a strange girl." said Cassie, glancing down at Recon.

"STRANGE. UP. DOWN. UP. STRANGE. CHARM." read the words on its screen.

"Strange, up..." said Cassie under her breath. She put a finger to the corner of her lips, and looked thoughtful. "Su Dusc?" she said out loud.

The other girl stopped in place, as if frozen. She turned to face Cassie, a look of shock on her face.

"How do you know that name?" she demanded.

"Is that your name?" said Cassie. "It's nice to meet you. Unless we've already met?"

The older girl sighed. "No, we haven't." said Sue."I'm not from this Earth."

"Oh? One of the other worlds?" said Cassie, tilting her head. "Hero World, if I had to guess?"

"Nah, not a Hero, just dig their style. But your deck, 'Dusk To Dusk'. I built it in the world I'm from. That other Earth. _My_ Earth." she said. "Named it after myself, because I was kind of a brat back then."

Cassie's eyes widened. "You're... you're her. She's the girl none of us remember, Recon."

"TRUTH." replied the Dragonarms.

"I _thought_ nobody would know who I was here." said Sue. "But man, Star Dragon World is all sorts of time weirdness in itself." She knelt down to stare at Recon's monitor. "Never thought of that, but honestly? Makes a lot of sense they'd know about temporal anomalies or whatever. You're not the same Recon who was buddies with her?"

"BEAUTY." said the orange robot.

"Never could figure out what it meant by that one."

"We were friends." said Cassie. "Or... another Cassie was your friend?"

"Yeesh, long story. But hey, it's you asking." she said, standing back up. "Lost my folks in some disaster. "

"I was handed a Dark Core. A core deck case that makes effects of cards real. A power that could change the world, on the condition that I swore loyalty to some team of criminals." said Sue. "So natch, first chance I got? I robbed them blind and teleported halfway around the world with it. Just happy as a clam, lying and cheating my way through school as the perfect hiding place for all my ill-gotten goods."

"Until I met this strange but charming girl, who would always talk about how fate isn't some force that grinds us down into hopelessness." she said. "My friend would say it's this great unifying force, the heartbeat of the universe, that brings us all together."

"And like an idiot I never asked her why. Why she was so accepting of everything that happened. And my buddy monster... she must have figured it out way back." said Sue, her eyes downcast. "My friend, the Cassie Gemini of that world, was dying. And when that old gang of criminal fighters came calling..." she said, clenching her fist. "The shock of finding out her best friend had lied to her all these years..."

"I see." said Cassie. "For years I thought that Buddyfighting would be too stressful on her heart, but she must have decided to try it anyway."

"I figured if I could make the power of the cards real, and there were buddy monsters that could travel back in time, I could jump back and... and tell her everything when we first met instead of lying to her. Or at least beat up my younger self for being so dumb about it." she said, darkly.

"I tried to swipe one of her buddy monsters - Ouroboros, The Nth Dimension." said Sue. "Who apparently isn't a Neodragon that ever got built here..."

Mobius, Cassie's other buddy monster, emerged from her core deck case. "The Ouroboros line of monsters were reworked into myself and my kin. Traveller from another timeline, you must surely understand _why_ the project to create them was abandoned?"

"Yeah, I know _now_." she said, rolling her eyes as annoyance crept into her voice. "Didn't work the way I thought it did, and he got way too angry at me for trying so he blasted me into another timeline entirely! I ended up dumped in a world where I was never born, a few years back. Everything's just different here."

"Yamigedo woke up, sure, but he threw up some real bugnuts worlds this time around. No Barlbatzz rampaging across Dragon World. Jakub... no, _Jacob_ Friday's films are all kitschy horror-comedies instead of dumb victorian dramas. Couldn't find my parents, or even my grandparents." she said, listing these things off by raising fingers. "And I realised my friend was right - No, that you were right, Cassie. _I couldn't go to my own past._ "

"Oh?" said Cassie, putting a finger to the corner of her lips.

"Whatever this world is, it's not going to become my world." said Sue. "Don't know if you can really call it the world 'after' mine, but here we are."

"Indeed." said Mobius, stroking his chin with a metallic claw. "Star Dragon World monsters are careful not to cross their own timestreams, as doing so was the cause of disappearances in the pioneers of time travel. There are early time-travellers who do not exist outside of memory, but this is the first time I've heard of one with the opposite problem."

"So you came to a new earth with your buddy." said Cassie. "I've met two wonderful buddies recently, but I haven't had the pleasure of seeing yours. Should we all sit down for some tea?"

"...Mode." said Sue. "Her name was Mode."

"Oh." said Cassie, realising what was meant. "She's not with you any more."

"...No." said Sue. "I still talk to her, sometimes. Even though she's...", she paused to shake her head, "I couldn't rebuild that deck if I wanted to. The Dark Core started falling apart as soon as I got here, and... well, she's a type of monster called a Digital Hero."

"I'm sorry, I've not heard of that kind of monster." said Cassie. "Recon? Mobius?" she said. She was met with a robotic shrug from the Dragonarms.

"Your buddy monster didn't exist in this timeline, did she?" said Mobius. "Like Ouroboros, the circumstances that led to her creation did not occur."

"Pretty much, yeah." said Sue. "Dungeon-Hero dual card, really cool to build decks with. But all my monsters except the buddy-rare just went blank when they had no connection to their home worlds. Anyway, Mode was kinda an advanced AI sort of deal?" she said, moving her hands around as if framing a picture. "The electronics in this timeline aren't the same, and I could only rig up so good a computer to keep her going. But the whole time she was here she just kept getting more... distant."

"I found out what she was up to when she said her program was going to break down, but she had a file I was to give to some Hero World doctor she had looked up." said Sue. "The whole time, ever since I became friends with the other Cassie, she was working on a cure for her. And from what you were saying on stage... yeah, guess she had it figured out. Stupid Hero monsters." she added, muttering.

"So your buddy is the reason I'm still alive in this timeline." said Cassie. She smiled. "Then we truly were fated to meet again. Did you read in your horoscope that you were destined to meet an old friend on this day?"

"Huh? No?" said Sue. She shrugged. "To tell the truth, I had been avoiding anything about the academy in this timeline. Except I mentioned my old team to a girl I knew, and it turns out she's really good at digging up info from practically nothing. So she said 'hey, the Shining Knights are your old team? Go take a break, see how the new kids are doing.', and just wouldn't take no for an answer."

"Your friend sounds like she cares about you a lot." said Cassie.

"Friend? Eh, I guess?" said Sue, giving a non-committal hand gesture. "She's kind of a dork, but..."

"You have friends in this world, so it _is_ your world." said Cassie.

"Hah." said Sue, laughing a little. "Never thought of it that way." She shook her head. "Anyway, it's been good, but I think I should get going."

"Oh? Don't you want to stay and meet Dennis and Pat?" said Cassie. "I thought they were the same people as in your world."

"Yeah, that's kiiiiiiind of the problem. They're Buddy Police." said Sue. "Dennis would probably understand, but I could see Pat trying to arrest me. Even if another timeline should be way out of his jurisdiction."

"That _is_ a fair point." said Cassie, followed by a "TRUTH" and a slight nod from her two buddies.

"Would you at least like to meet our Tess?"

"Tess?" Sue laughed. "As in, Tess Guillaume? Never could stand her. Always talking about her honor and duty as a knight..." she said, rolling her eyes.

"It sounds like your Tess Williams had a very different fate from mine." said Cassie. "She's the friendliest person I've ever met. We were going to go out on a date after our matches, but I'm sure she'd..."

"You're dating her? Hahaha, no way!" laughed Sue. "That'd be way too awkward for me to interrupt, even if she wasn't kind of identical to someone I know _hated_ me. I mean, you're nearly like the Cassie I know, but nah."

Cassie nodded. "Then, until we are fated to meet again." she said.

"Yeah, that works for me. Laters!" said the time-displaced girl, turning to walk away. "Tess _Williams_! Hah! What a world!" she said, shaking her head.

 

* * *

 

"So that's how I lost." said Dave, watching his last lifepoints being blasted away by Cassie's weapon. "Fun fact, I _really_ didn't see that one coming."

"None of us did!" said Emily, clasping her hands in concern. "Her deck was a complete flop against me, so I didn't even try to figure out what it did! I'm sorry, Dave!" she said, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"Yeah, fun fact, this one's all on me." said Dave. "I'm sorry Timo, I might have wrecked your chance to get to the Warlords. If I had played better..." he said, rubbing the back of his head with one hand.

"Uh, there really wasn't any way you could have played better with that hand." I said. Only one shield, and keeping it for later wouldn't have saved him. "And the deck you built was great, Emily. It's just..."

"It couldn't be avoided." said Eva, echoing Cassie's words from yesterday.

"So, we just need to try our best to win the next two fights." I said. "Uh, speaking of, who's up next?"

"Pat." said Eva.

"Uh, I meant who's next on our team, but okay." I said.

"Dennis had to leave for a while." said Emily. "He said it was Buddy Police business?"

"Alright, so should I fight that cowboy guy?" I asked.

"Hmm? Yes, that could work." said Emily, looking at some notes. "As long as you're careful of his buddy it's certainly not _impossible_..."

"Fun fact, you can't really do worse than me." said Dave. "Good luck!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TEAM SHINING KNIGHTS  
> Susan "Sue" Dusk / Dungeon World / Glitch Queen Modegon. "Twilight Epitaph" - [NO DATA]  
> [NO DATA]  
> Fun fact: [NO DATA]  
> Nina: Oi Roachboy, who is this?  
> Karl: ¯\\_(?)_/¯


	17. Quick Charge-And-Draw Duel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Timo fights the second member of Team Shining Knights - a cowboy who's in perfect sync with his gauge-destroying buddy!

TEAM SHINING KNIGHTS  
Patrick "Pat" O'Shea / Dragon World / Dragon Knight Calamity Jane. "High Noon Showdown" - Anti-Gauge.  
Buddy Police Youth, Society For Creative Anachronism  
The unyielding sheriff of the Shining Knights. A buddy police youth officer who is a real stickler for rules. He dresses like a cowboy due to his admiration for the lawmen of the old west.  
Fun fact: A surprisingly talented singer.  
Nina: Don't bring anything you can't rack up all the gauge for in a single turn.  
Eva: Consider moves carefully.

 

* * *

 

"Let's go to work, Jane." said Pat.

"Couldn't say it better myself." said the Dragon Knight. She pulled down her hat slightly with one hand.

My opponent stood back-to-back with his buddy, Calamity Jane, each of them side-on to me. His core deck case became a revolver core gadget, which he held with the barrel pointing upwards.

"Dead or alive..." he said, as both him and his buddy took three paces to opposite sides.

"...here we come!" said Jane.

They snapped around to point their guns at me. "High Noon Showdown - Luminize!" said Pat, pulling his opening hand from his core gadget.

"Katana World!" I said, Tsukiusagi holding the flag for me.

"And we're with Dragon World!" said Pat in unison with Jane. The flag stood in between them.

I knew that Pat's deck wasn't going to be anything like the one Tess beat me with. Dragon Knights had a couple of different sub-archetypes, and the difference was clear in their buddies - Napoleon would only work in a deck that could put monsters into the drop zone. Calamity Jane, on the other hand, needed monsters on the field to power her effect.

And what a game-changing effect it was - Cassie's deck sunk absolutely everything into trying to stop her opponent taking turns, to the point that she had been nigh-defenseless when Emily had gone on the attack before she could get set up. Pat's buddy monster was known as the lynchpin of some very powerful lockdown strategies - a Calamity Jane deck could afford to let its opponent take turns safe in the knowledge that they could barely afford to play anything but the cheapest cards.

At least I had the first turn to do some setup of my own here.

"Charge and draw! I call Undying Benishojo to the center!" I said. "Benishojo, attack the fighter."

Benishojo struck at Pat, who didn't seem too concerned - he certainly wasn't using a Dragon Shield this early.

"That's all for now." I said. Benishojo shattered.

Life/Gauge/Hand  
10/3/5 | 8/2/6

"Timo makes a standard Skull Warrior opening move, and Pat makes no effort to stop it!" said Sarah. "A very short first turn that's over before we've done any introductions!"

"Joining me for this fight is Team Hotline's leader, Nina!" she said, turning to the smartly-dressed girl beside her. "Any thoughts on this matchup?"

"The smart money's on Pat." said Nina, steam rising from the coffee on the table in front of her. "A buddy police trainee, with a buddy contract that's lasted three years."

"I see!" said Sarah. "Timo has only been buddies with Tsukiusagi for a month, even with his impressive first round battle. No matter the deck matchup, it's that gap in experience which could make all the difference!"

Pat twirled his gun, finally stopping as he held it out in front of himself. "Draw!" he said, pulling a card out from it. He scooped up a different card from his hand, firing it off into his gauge before making his second draw. "Charge and draw! I cast Transportation Air Lane, and equip my Dragon Life Spear, Royal Lance!"

He was now holding a very strange-looking weapon in his free hand. Despite the name it didn't really seem like a spear _or_ a lance, instead more like a serrated longsword with several colored segments of the blade - red, then pink, purple, dark blue and light blue - each sloping out independently of the others.

"I pay a gauge to call Dragon Knight Rudel to the center. Then, I discard Iwamoto to activate Rudel's effect, dealing two damage and returning the fella to my hand"

I had seen the airplane-like Iwamoto (and the pair of dragons that directed the Air Lane) in my fight against Tess. Rudel was a dragon knight riding a bulkier dragon with similar cannons on it - this one a blue dragon in gold armor.

"Kanonenvogel!" shouted Rudel. His dragon opened its mouth to spit a laser at me, backed up by shots from the golden cannons, before Rudel vanished back into Pat's hand cards.

"I use Air Lane's effect - since my lance is a Dragon Knight I can send a card in my hand to my gauge, and draw a card. Then I buddy call Calamity Jane to the right." he said.

The blonde woman that was always accompanying him stepped forward, her head on her hat as she pulled a golden revolver from its holster. A brown-scaled dragon appeared behind her. This dragon had a mane of black hair, making it weirdly reminiscent of a horse. Jane didn't mount the dragon, instead just leaning back against it.

"Jane rests herself to shoot out one of your gauge cards." said Pat.

"Y'all better be ready for a gun show." said Calamity Jane. She twirled her revolver as Pat had been doing earlier, and fired a shot at my gauge, shattering a card.

"Bullseye!" shouted the dragon knight, before blowing some smoke off her gun.

"Calamity Jane's signature effect shoots out a card from her opponent's gauge!" said Sarah. "Doesn't your buddy do something like that?"

"Galkheight's gauge destruction is more passive." noted Nina, waving a gloved hand dismissively.

"I call Dragon Knight Tomoe to the left." said Pat, as a woman wearing samurai armor appeared on a white dragon.

I recognized her name from a book that Eva had recommended for me shortly after I met Tsukiusagi - she had handed me a neatly-handwritten list of reference books about Japanese folklore that were in the school library, probably ones she read back when she was a Katana World fighter. While there wasn't a Tomoe in Katana World, this Dragon Knight shared a name with a legendary samurai woman from Earth.

"Since I discarded Iwamoto that means there's a Dragon Knight in my drop zone, so she adds a card to my hand." continued Pat. "Now Calamity Jane rests Tomoe to blow away another gauge."

"At your leisure, Jane-san." said the samurai lady, her dragon bowing slightly.

"Well shucks ma'am, if you say so." said Jane, blasting away another of my gauge cards.

At least now his field was full up with rested monsters, so it'd start costing him a lot of hand advantage to go even more on the offensive.

"Cast, Force Return!" he said. His two monsters returned to his hand.

"Pat has just cast Force Return, a spell that puts every monster on the fighter's own field back into their hand and gives him an extra lifepoint!" said Sarah.

"It's an old favourite of his team's former leader, and a deceptively powerful card that's key to many combo decks." added Nina.

"I call Calamity Jane back to the right, and Lenus to the left." said Pat. "Looks like the boys are back in town - or girls, as the case may be."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." said Jane, before tipping her hat towards the new arrival. "Ma'am."

Lenus was a girl wearing an Egyptian-style outfit, complete with a golden headdress. In fact, a lot of her outfit was gold - earrings, circlets on her arms, the staff she held - as was the armor of the long-necked white dragon she was sitting on. She closed her eyes as she bowed her head respectfully towards Jane.

A screen appeared next to me. "Lenus will give him a gauge each time she moves." said Eva.

Dave leaned out from behind her. "And fun fact, if he puts another Dragon Knight in the drop zone then his lance'll deal extra damage!"

Eva nodded. "Be careful." she said, and the screen closed.

Huh. Not that I had a good way to destroy either of his monsters right now, but that was something to watch out for.

"Lenus, attack the fighter." said Pat.

She nodded, and raised her golden staff in the air. A red beam shot out towards me from the jewel on the end.

"Jane, you're up next."

"Rest And Deliver!" she said, pulling out a second pistol and unloading both of them in my direction.

"Pat's gone for a full-on quick draw duel here!" said Sarah. "He's blown away Timo's gauge and is going straight for his lifepoints!"

"Looks like it's time for me to attack." said Pat, briefly placing a hand on his hat as his buddy had before. They really did have a lot of similar mannerisms. Maybe it's because they hung around together at school _and_ at the Buddy Police office?

Pat ran at me with his lance/spear/possibly-sword, firing a shot from his core gadget to smash my last gauge card before slashing at me.

"That's all for my move."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]."

Life/Gauge/Hand  
4/0/6 | 10/1/2

"I've seen your type before. You're the kind of person that wants to just drift along in life instead of having strong convictions. If not for your sister you might never have become a buddyfighter." said Pat. "And if not for sheer random chance, you'd never have met your buddy."

"Uh, kind of true?" I said, sharing a look with Tsuki.

She shrugged back at me. "S'yeah, I was pretty much channel-surfing when I first saw Timo getting his butt kicked in a Buddyfight. What's it to you?"

"When you've been buddies for a long time, you form a bond like no other." said Pat. "I met Jane three years ago, when I first become a Buddy Police trainee."

"I saw the spirit of the Old West alive in this here varmint trying to keep order, and he's growin' up into a mighty fine cowboy." said Jane, gesturing slightly towards Pat with her head.

"And I'm proud to carry on the legacy of sheriffs." said Pat.

"Aren't you Irish?" I asked.

"Plenty of cowboys came from Ireland.", he shrugged.

"I, uh, don't really know enough about cowboys to dispute that." I said, hearing a snort of laughter behind me. "Yeah, yeah, Tsuki. I'll get on with my turn."

"Draw!" I said, reaching for my core gadget.

I needed to plan out my order of attacks. With his buddy's ability to pick off my gauge cards it might be for the best to just consider Tsukiusagi as a direct attacker. Her critical might be more useful than her defensive effect, given that it costs a gauge. But even an all-out attack wouldn't bring his lifepoints low enough - he'd move Lenus to the center to stop an attack, and get a gauge back in the process.

Wait a second. Lenus?

I looked at the quiet staff-wielding Dragon Knight. Pat couldn't have misplayed, could he?

"Uh, Eva?" I asked. "Lenus' effect... it works on either player's turn, right? And when moving to any position?"

Eva briefly appeared on-screen to confirm with a short nod. So my theory about what Pat was up to might actually be correct...

"Charge and draw! I'll cast Clear Serenity, and call Revelation Tactician Keiganryu to the center!"

"After a strangely brief talk with his teammates Timo seems a lot more confident in his moves again!" said Sarah. "With his cost of two gauge Keiganryu's not a card to be played lightly against a Calamity Jane deck!"

"Better to use the gauge while you have it." said Nina.

"By the might of my sight!" said Keiganryu, his eyes glowing amber beneath the dragon skull. "Skull Warriors of size one are now size _none_!"

"Uh, yeah." I said. "Like Keiganryu said, my other Skull Warriors drop down to size 0." It's a good thing they did - Keiganryu's a size 3, but his ability made him work with the many size 1 monsters in my deck, like my buddy. Who... was leaning on my shoulder now?

"Yo, TZ." whispered Tsuki. "Just buddy call me now. It's not like you'll have the gauge, and even if you call another monster over me..."

"Thanks Tsuki." I said quietly in response. "But I've got another idea."

I only had two gauge, and I needed to keep it until his turn to have any real chance of winning. Calling Tsuki wouldn't cost me anything, but there was another move I could make to keep my gauge use at a minimum. "I call Setsuna to the right, and she calls Hiunmaru to the left!"

With Hiunmaru replacing the gauge I spent on Setsuna's ability I wasn't any worse off. Nothing for it now but to attack and hope that I really was calling Pat's bluff.

"Lenus, time to move to the center." said Pat. The Dragon Knight nodded back to him, and moved in front of him. "Whenever Lenus moves, I gain one gauge."

His deck could pretty easily gain more gauge than he needed. But he hadn't moved Lenus on his own turn, and if that means what I think it means then I've got a chance. Time to call his bluff.

"Setsuna, attack Calamity Jane!" I said. "Natsubame, attack Lenus! And Keiganryu, attack the fighter!"

"With the turn ending, all of Timo's monsters except Keiganryu go to the drop zone!" said Sarah.

Nina nodded. "With a Skull Warrior deck that may be the safest place to keep them."

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]."

Life/Gauge/Hand  
4/2/3 | 7/2/3

Pat nodded to a screen at his side. I overheard what he was saying, as he wasn't really making an effort to keep his conversation secret. "Thanks Dennis, but I've got this under control. Maybe look in on Cassie while you're waiting." Okay, guess his teammate was back, or calling in remotely?

He turned back to face me. "Draw!" he said, pulling his core gadget from its holster and firing out a new card in a single motion. "Charge and draw! I'll call Rudel to the center again, and you know what that means." he said, holding up a card which dissolved.

"Kanonenvogel!" shouted the dragon knight, blasting me with another beam.

"He's done his job, so I'll use Air Lane to charge and draw again. Then I'll call Wittman to the right, and rest him to deal another two damage!"

A military officer standing on top of a tank-like dragon (complete with treads on its legs and prominent gun turrets) appeared. He saluted Pat.

"All weapons, Cannon Fire!" called out the dragon knight. His dragon let loose a barrage of shells at me.

"Cast - Demon Way, Kasumienran! It costs me a gauge." I said, watching one of my two gauge cards vanish, "But I can gain a life instead of taking the damage from your monster!"

"It's time for Wittman to retire." said Pat, putting a hand on top of his hat and doffing it towards the tank commander. He threw out a new card in the same direction. "Magellan, to the right! He calls Tomoe, to the left! And _she_ lets me draw a card!"

This new dragon knight was dressed in a more naval style, with a bicorne hat. Which I guess made sense, if he was meant to be the famed explorer. He also wore blue pauldrons trimmed with gold, matching those of the blue dragon he was riding.

"Tomoe, attack the center monster!"

"Begone, foul youkai!" said the samurai, slicing through Keiganryu. My Skull Warrior reformed using his soulguard.

"I return to the fight." said Keiganryu.

"Magellan!"

The other Dragon Knight slashed at Keiganryu with a sword, before sheathing it. "Hmm, your route is clear." he said, folding his arms and nodding as his dragon returned to its position on Pat's field.

"I'm sorry to cut your tournament short. You did pretty well to get here, but looks like this is the end." said Pat. "I attack!"

He leapt in the air towards me, swinging his weapon as he fired off a shot from his core gadget to shatter my last gauge card.

But the shot never connected, and neither did his attack. At least, not with me.

"Counter buddy call!" I shouted.

"Too slow!" said Tsuki, the Skull Warrior having appeared in mid-air to block his attack the way she did best - by leaping directly into it.

"The only one faster on the draw than you is my buddy - Lightning Speed Tsukiusagi!" I said, unable to keep a smile off my face. Tsuki turned in the air to flash me a grin before shattering.

"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]."

Life/Gauge/Hand  
4/0/1 | 7/1/1

"Draw! Charge and draw!" I said. "Cast - Odd Ritual, Skull Festival! I pay a life to call Setsuna from my drop zone, who lets me pay a gauge to call Hiunmaru! Then, I use the gauge _he_ gives me to call Benishojo!"

"Amazing! Timo's buddy call was just the start of some kind of Skull Warrior parade!" said Sarah. "He's brought back three of his monsters for what could very well be the final turn!"

"Not bad." said Nina, nodding in approval before taking a long sip of coffee.

"And I equip my Ninja Blade, Chirizakura!" I said.

"Attack! Setsuna, Hiunmaru, Benishojo!" I called out, ordering each to strike at Pat in turn.

"Hold up." said Pat, raising a hand. I lowered my sword, expecting him to cast a spell, but he shook his head and holstered his core gadget on his belt. "Just curious about something."

"Looks like you kept your buddy in your hand, even when you were risking losing your gauge." said Pat. "Mind if I ask why?"

"Something was bugging me from your first turn." I explained. "Lenus gives you a gauge each time she moves, but you called her to the side instead of calling her to the center and moving her right away. It's because you hadn't drawn a second Calamity Jane, and didn't want to risk sending another copy of her to your gauge, wasn't it?"

He put his hand on his hat, nodding once to confirm my theory.

"You think of your deck like a gun. It's only built to do one thing, and any other parts would throw off your 'aim'." I continued. I looked at my empty gauge. "It's, uh, _really good_ at that one thing, but you can't afford to run many shields or any late-game draw spells, because those would 'jam' the gun, or, uh..."

"Don't feel you have to stick with this gun metaphor. But you're right. Backfiring at a critical moment takes me out of the fight." said Pat. "My deck's good at putting people down fast, because against a criminal fighter I'll always have other Buddy Police like Dennis watching my back if I lose. Cassie helped build it, and you've seen how all-or-nothing her own deck is."

"Yeah. I noticed that her decks are, uh, more focused than Emily's." I said, thinking back to Dennis' deck being geared towards rushing out Caliburn Grief and Excalibur. And to Cassie's own deck, which was unbelievably fragile if she didn't have Mobius' time-travel to protect her.

"But Emily's style leaves a lot more to fall back on when things go wrong." I continued. Not just my own deck, but those of my teammates. Tess, too - seeing Emily's work in the hands of one of the top-ranked fighters at the academy had really underlined just how well some decks could effortlessly flow into new strategies. "So, uh, that's why I saved my buddy for the right moment for her to really make a difference."

"Heh. You gambled everything on your buddy." said Pat, after taking a moment to process that. "Good. That kind of trust could take you far."

"Timo demonstrates some amazing insight into his opponent's strategy!" said Sarah. "Could this be the start of a turnabout that takes them to the finals?"

Her co-commentator finished her coffee in silence.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" said Pat, with a smile. "Looks like this is your win, fair and square."

"Chirizakura!" I said. Setsuna shattered, and I ran forwards with the sword to attack Pat.

"[Winner: Timo Zaitsev.]"

 

* * *

 

"Fun fact, you did great out there!" said Dave. "Even his cool gun tricks and cowboys couldn't stop you!"

Emily nodded. "His deck was built to be fast on the draw, and you managed to turn that against him!"

"So fun fact, we just need to get Eva ready for her fight against Dennis!"

"Emily." said Eva.

"Hmm? What is it?" asked Emily. "Last minute deck adjustments, or...?"

Eva shook her head. "Emily should fight him." she clarified.

Emily's eyes widened behind her glasses. "Eh?"


	18. Knights And Lords

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily fights her brother, Dennis, in the finals of round two. Can she combine the magical research of her Dragowizards well enough to defeat the gentlemanly knight and his Legend World monsters?

"But he's the leader of his team!" protested Emily. "And he's using one of the best decks I've ever built!"  
  
"You are our best option." said Eva.  
  
"This very morning you were talking about a new deck you had built." said Gorgas, emerging from Emily's deck. "One that would use my own card."  
  
"Eh? Oh, right!" said Emily. She quickly checked her core deck case. "Yes, that's the deck I've got with me!"  
  
"His deck." said Eva. "What is its main strength?"  
  
"Oh, it's got tons of strengths!" said Emily, flipping through a notebook. "Cards like General Odysseus and Bloody Holy Grail mean he'll almost never run out of shields, the early-game ramp lets him equip some powerful Hero weapons..."  
  
"Fun fact, half your cards ignore shields!" said Dave. "You've got Burning Wand and Axia, even without your buddy on the field!"  
  
"And, uh, Gorgas' soulguard makes him a pretty good match against weapons like Excalibur." I offered. "Not to mention, you know, actually knowing how he fights."  
  
"You're all sure?" she asked.  
  
"Of course!" said Dave. Eva nodded in agreement.  
  
"Definitely." I said.  
  
"Alright!" said Emily, raising her fists in determination. "I'll give it my best shot!"  


* * *

  
  
TEAM SHINING KNIGHTS  
Dennis Primrose / Legend World / Carved Stallion Of Dreams, Dalahast. "Swords At Dawn" - Fairy Mill.  
Buddy Police Youth, Fencing club  
The gentlemanly swordsman who leads the Shining Knights. The son of the legendary tag world champions Team Primrose. He takes a lot after his world-class fencer mother, Penelope. He values fair play and sportsmanship over an assured win.  
Fun fact: Made his buddy contract with Dalahast when he was 8, and short enough to literally ride the monster around.  
Nina: As funny as it'd be to try milling him out it's also a pretty good way to immediately die.  
Eva: He always fights with an open center.  


* * *

  
  
TEAM SERENDIPITY  
Emily Primrose / Magic World / Dragowizard Gorgas. "Thaumotology 101" - Dragowizards.  
No club/committee affiliation.  
The mad scientist deckbuilder of Team Serendipity. The de facto mascot of the science department, she has ambitions of becoming Earth's expert on Thaumotology, the science of magic. Daughter of legendary tag team fighters Team Primrose. She follows in the footsteps of her scientist mother, Jacaranda, but more geared towards physics than biology. Very smart, but kind of a scatterbrain.  
Fun fact: Responsible for more science wing power outages than everyone else put together - students, teachers and buddy monsters. Not just in her stay at the academy. That's total, all-time.  
Nina's suggestion: Shields are less useful than damage reduction here.  
Eva: Emily's strength is in versatility, not specialization.  


* * *

  
  
"I must admit, I expected to be fighting Eva now." said Dennis, standing on the opposite side of the fight stage. "But I fully respect your choice to fight me, and I wish you the best of luck."  
  
"And the same to you!" said Emily.  
  
"Madam." said Dennis, giving a respectful bow towards his sister. Dalahast dipped forward slightly on his front legs to match. "I challenge you to a duel."  
  
He held his core deck case in his left hand, and it turned into his buckler core gadget, attached to his wrist. He tapped his other hand to it, and cards flew out. "Luminize - Swords At Dawn!"  
  
"We see further by standing on the shoulders of giants!" said Emily. "Luminize - Advanced Thaumatology!"  
  
"I fight for Legend World!" said Dennis.  
  
"I'm fighting for Magic World!" responded Emily.  
  
"It’s the final round between Team Serendipity and the Shining Knights! I'm joined for this fight by a friend of both fighters - Tess Williams from Team Warlords." said Sarah. "Tess, any thoughts going into this one?"  
  
Tess was wearing a brightly-colored oversized hoodie, unzipped as usual. This one had neon pink sleeves, a green hood and laces, and the rest was sky blue. The t-shirt partially visible under it had a pink-and-black chessboard pattern, with some kind of marble statue portrayed on it.  
  
"Like, they're both totally bodacious?" said Tess. "I don't know who to cheer for, because I'll be totally stoked for whoever wins!"  
  
Sarah laughed. "That's one way to be impartial."  
  
"Charge and draw! I buddy call Dalahast, to the centre! Then, he attacks!" said Dennis.  
  
His buddy whinnied, and sprung into the air to blast Emily with his wings.  
  
"That's going to be all for my first turn." he said. "Now, make it yours."  
  
"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"  
  
Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/2/6 | 11/3/5  
  
"Draw!" said Emily. "Charge and draw! I call Dragowizard Qinus Axia to the right! Axia, use your ability to deal damage to my brother!"  
  
The familiar blue-scaled dragon appeared, zapping Dennis with a jolt of electricity.  
  
"Next I'll equip Gunrod Hammerschmidt Type-CLA!" said Emily, her life ticking down by a point as a futuristic laser rifle appeared in her hands. In place of a sight there was what seemed to be a white magic wand with golden symbols, pointing straight down the barrel.  
  
"I can fire Hammerschmidt to deal one point of damage!" said Emily, firing a bright green line of energy at her brother, who raised his arm as if to block it. "Then we look at the top two cards of my deck, and if one of them is a monster..."  
  
Two cards flew out of her wand, and turned around in the air.  
  
"Dragowizard Tempest Wing, a wizard monster. So you gain one gauge." said Dennis, approvingly. "Though you've also lost a Solomon's Shield from your deck."  


* * *

  
  
"A shield wouldn't help if he equipped Excalibur again." I noted, which Eva gave a slight nod to.  
  
"Emily has called Dragowizards Burning Wand and Orella, to the left and center." said Eva.  
  
"Fun fact, they've a pretty cool combo!" said Dave. "Especially with Orella at the side, so her effect'll help with Gorgas later!"  
  
I had seen the red-scaled Burning Wand in my very first fight with Emily. He was dressed in a very traditional sorcerer's outfit - robes and a pointed hat.  
  
Orella was a monster I hadn't seen until I had fought Emily's Dragowizard decks a few times. My teammate wasn't the type to hold back if she thought she had discovered an interesting combo, so I assumed she had cut this Dragowizard from earlier versions of her deck for space (or simply not drawn her). The monster's light-green scales and simple brown robes gave her a more muted look than the flashy Burning Wand, and the bundle of magical scrolls she held in her arms only added to the bookish impression given off by her thick glasses. A long braid of red hair hung down her back, probably to keep it out of the way when she was looking between her scrolls.  


* * *

  
  
"The fruits of Dragowizard's Research shall aid us all!" said Orella.  
  
"Burning Wand rests to deal one damage!" said Emily.  
  
"Research is fine, but I'm more about direct applications!" said Burning Wand, blasting Dennis with a fireball.  
  
Orella held a scroll above her head in one claw. It unfurled downwards, and some runes on the page glowed, then it dissolved.  
  
"When one of my cards deals effect damage, Orella adds a card to my gauge!" said Emily. "Now, Orella! Attack Dalahast!"  
  
"Give me a moment." said Orella, fumbling through her scrolls. "Enchantment, illusion... ah, evocation!" she said, unfurling another scroll. This one glowed for a moment too, before turning into a ball of lightning and flying at Dalahast.  
  
"You did well, Dalahast." said Dennis, nodding respectfully. He turned to Emily's remaining monster. "Now, your turn, fair dragowizard."  
  
"Huh? Oh, silly me! I've still got another attack!" giggled Emily. "Axia, attack the fighter!"  
  
"Great Thundershock!" called out Qinus Axia. A lightning bolt struck at Dennis.  
  
"And that's all for my turn!" said Emily.  
  
"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"  
  
Life/Gauge/Hand  
7/4/3 | 6/3/5  
  
"Cassie having two buddy monsters took all of us by surprise, and that lightning-fast showdown between the second fighters from these teams had an equally shocking conclusion." said Sarah. "But is an upset victory by Emily even possible in this matchup? These two siblings know each other's fighting styles too well to surprise each other, which may be a disadvantage for her."  
  
"Like, Emily even built his deck." said Tess. "He's totally a decent deckbuilder himself. Way better at it than me, y'know? But Emily's all about deck ratios and formulas. Formulae? Whatever. So he still always asks her for advice."  
  
"It may be true that she has a better understanding of the decks they're using, but Dennis has the keen instincts and experience gained from years of fighting alongside his buddy." said Sarah. "Both Primroses follow in the footsteps of their parents, former members of Team Shining Knights and renowned fighters in their own rights."  
  
"Emily, you've made an excellent opening move." said Dennis. "I feel I would be dishonoring you if I gave my next turn any less than my best effort."  
  
"I'm looking forward to it." said Emily, adjusting her glasses.

* * *

  
  
"Phew. Fun fact, I was worried we'd have to remind Emily she could attack with Axia." said Dave. "It's not often she has more Dragowizards on the field who can actually attack!"  
  
"It's, uh, pretty nice that Emily has her family to look up to." I said thoughtfully. "It reminds me a lot of how I used to see Nat."  
  
Dave laughed. "Fun fact, there's a lot of people I look up to." He started counting them off on his fingers. "Dad, mom, Rain, Joker, Emily's moms... I could go on all day."  
  
He stopped counting with a shrug. "Anyone you look up to, Eva?" he asked.  
  
Eva stared at him in silence. Figuring she wasn't going to say anything, I turned my attention back to the fight.  


* * *

  
  
"Draw! Charge and draw!" said Dennis. "I cast Symbel Gard!"  
  
"Symbel Gard lets Dennis draw two cards." said Sarah. "Could he have let himself drop to six lifepoints to fill its casting condition?"  
  
"Cassie, can you check some odds for me?" said Dennis, a screen opening so he could discuss the cards in his hand with his teammates.  
  
After a short conversation with his teammates, he nodded. "Very well, I shall cast my set spell - the Hero's Base, Castle Camelot." he said, as the golden castle rose up behind him. "I'll call Dalahast to the left." Dalahast appeared directly by his side, and he gave the living toy horse a friendly pat on the head before the monster leapt off to the correct position.  
  
"As much as I admire my buddy, he isn't of the Hero attribute, though his own skill adds to my dropzone." he said, cards shooting out of his buckler and dissolving. "Which is why I will call one of the valkyries. Eruroon, the Divine Will, to the right!"  
  
A beautiful woman with flowing white hair appeared, wearing an incredibly elaborate set of white and gold armor. White bird wings protruded from her gold helmet, or possibly her head.  
  
"I have been called to gather the worthy fallen." said Eruroon. "And, to fell all others myself."  
  
"Oh, hello Auntie Eruroon!" said Emily, waving cheerfully to the new monster as Dennis' set spell increased his gauge.  
  
"Hail, daughter of roses." said Eruroon. "Were it not that we were willed to battle this day, I would converse more."  
  
Dennis smiled. "Though the valkyries are from Asgard they, too, are Heroes." A large sword appeared in his hand. "And I shall equip the Famous Sword Hrunting, to fight side-by-side with my monsters." He jumped forward into the center position of his field.  
  
"A valkyrie monster, and one that both fighters are on friendly terms with!" exclaimed Sarah. "It'd only be more amazing if it was their mother's buddy, Eir!"  
  
"Eruroon, attack Orella!" said Dennis.  
  
"Conjuration, abjuration... oh no!" said Orella, fumbling through her scrolls to no avail as Eruroon gracefully floated through the air towards her. The dragowizard was destroyed in a flash of light emanating from the valkyrie.  
  
"May we meet again in Valhalla." said Eruroon.  
  
"Dalahast, attack the fighter!" continued Dennis, his buddy peppering Emily with attacks from his wings. "Now, I shall attack!"  
  
"Cast, Chillax!" called out Emily. She raised a finger in the air, and a lash of white energy shot out to form loops through the air in front of her. "Not only does it stop your three damage, I also gain one lifepoint back!"  
  
"Finally, I equip the Divine Sword Gallatin." said Dennis. The huge demonic-looking Hrunting returned to the cards in his hand, replaced by a smaller sword. The shining blade of Gallatin looked much more fitting for his fencing stance.  
  
"Dennis has a bunch of Hero monsters in his dropzone, so he gets the way-past-cool ability to equip his Gallatin whenever he wants." said Tess. "So, like, he spends the first half of the game setting up all his amazing knight stuff so he can use cards like this."  
  
"A little like your own deck." noted Sarah.  
  
Tess shrugged. "Like, don't knock it. It totally works for both of us!" she said, with a grin.  
  
"Hero and Fairy monsters both build on the legacy of those who came before them. Inspired by the tales of my Legend World monsters, I can indeed equip Gallatin during the attack phase. And with this holy sword, I can attack again." said Dennis. He slashed at Emily. She stumbled backwards as her lifepoints ticked down.  
  
"Only four lifepoints left..." said Emily, hands clasped in worry. "Everyone, Timo, I'm sorry... I should never have..." she started.  
  
Dennis had landed back in front of his flag, adjusting his stance as he lowered his sword. "Emily." he said. "You don't need to apologize to your teammates. I know of their noble quest, and I know that they truly believe in your buddyfighting prowess."  
  
"Then you know why I can't let anyone down." said Emily. "Timo won his own fight, and I don't want to be the one who took his chance away."  
  
"I, too, wish to fight Natasha Zaitsev in the finals of the tournament." said Dennis. "And I promise you, if you lose here, I shall carry on the noble spirit of your team." he said, placing a hand over his heart.  
  
"It's because you want to date her, isn't it?" said Emily.  
  
"No, not quite." replied her brother. He shook his head, smiling. "Though my teammates do like to tease me about that. It's more that I consider her my rival. She did hand me my only tournament loss last year, after all. I had thought our friendly opposition was mutual, until rather recently."  
  
His expression became more neutral. "We hadn't been able to find her for a week after her buddy had appeared. When I finally gave her a core deck case, she seemed... different." said Dennis. "The bright and noble opponent that fought me to a standstill last year had become cold and harsh."  


* * *

  
  
"I would be honored if the debut of your buddy was our rematch." said Dennis.  
  
"Not interested." said Nat, briefly looking at the round bronze shield that was her core gadget before turning it back into a deck case.  
  
"There wouldn't be any point. I beat you even when I was weak." she said over her shoulder, as she started walking away. "Meet me in the finals, if you can."  


* * *

  
  
"Of course, that was before she fought the Warlords for leadership." said Dennis. "The first and second place teams from last year could only meet in the finals."  
  
"So all this time you've been after the same answer as Timo?" said Emily. "I think he'll be happy to know that even if I mess up here you'll have a reason to go all-out against his sister."  
  
Dennis smiled. "Emily, I know you're going to give this fight your all, just as I intend to. The bond between buddy monster and human, as well as between teammates, is a sacred bond of trust." he said. "You would never do anything intended to hurt your dear friends, and if you did they would always forgive you for it. I know I could face my teammates, even if I lost this fight, and that they would always accept me."  
  
"Now." he said. "My turn is over. Make it yours."  
  
"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]."  
  
Life/Gauge/Hand  
4/3/2 | 6/3/4  


* * *

  
  
Emily drew a card, and charged it away immediately to draw a Nice One. Okay, that'll work with the Ren in her hand, so she won't need our help figuring out what to do here.  
  
"It's you." said Eva, her voice even more quiet than usual.  
  
"Huh?" I asked.  
  
"The ones I look up to." she said. Oh, right, the question Dave asked earlier. "Emily and Dave."  
  
Dave burst into a grin. "Fun fact, that's really sweet!" he said. "Can I hug you?" he asked.  
  
Eva stared at him for a few seconds. She nodded slightly.  
  
Feeling like it'd be awkward to stare at my two friends having a personal moment, I watched Emily firing her Hammerschmidt again (sending Transmitter Dendo and Magical Goodbye to her dropzone).  
  
"Fun fact, when I heard your new deck's name? I thought you were trying to be cute." said Dave. "But you turned that into something really scary!"  
  
"I can be both." she deadpanned.  
  
Both Dave and myself laughed at that. I wondered if they had ever hugged before - Eva didn't seem the type (outside of becoming increasingly close to Emily), but Dave certainly did.  


* * *

  
  
"I call Magic Power Researcher, Ren Kogasaki! To the center!" said Emily. "And I'll cast Nice One, drawing two cards!"  
  
The wizard girl who appeared was wearing robes that somewhat resembled a labcoat. She held up a bubbling flask of blue liquid in the air, but was interrupted before she could do anything with it.  
  
"Counter impact - King's Wave, Caliburn Grief!" said Dennis, sweeping his Gallatin through the air in front of him. A wave of energy shattered all the monsters on the field, as well as his Camelot set spell.  
  
"Eh?" said Emily, her eyes widening.  
  
"I'm sorry, I can't risk you protecting any of your monsters from my impact." said Dennis. "Casting it in response to your own spell prevents you from planning anything else with your field full of wizards."  
  
"Dennis sweeps the entire field with his impact card!" said Sarah. "The amazing effect of Caliburn Impact destroys all spells and monsters, meaning that his Camelot Castle adds a Holy Grail back to his hand!"  


* * *

  
  
"You've, uh, just drawn your buddy." I said. "I know that puts you on the defensive, but it's your best option here."  
  
"Got it." said Emily, nodding to the screen.  


* * *

  
  
"I buddy call Dragowizard Gorgas, to the center!" said Emily. "And I move two wizards from my dropzone to his soul! Now Gorgas, use your Spirit Orb ability!"  
  
Gorgas charged a sphere of energy in his hands, and shot it at Dennis. He was protected by a huge round shield appearing on his arm, reminding me of my sister's core gadget.  
  
"Cast, Shield of Achilles!" he said. "I can reduce any damage I take by two!"  
  
"I end my turn!" said Emily.  
  
"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"  
  
Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/2/2 | 5/1/3  
  
"Draw! Charge and draw!" said Dennis. "I discard the Skilled General, Odysseus. Since I have a weapon equipped, I gain a lifepoint and draw one new card."  
  
"Now, I call the Fairy King Oberon, to my right!" he said.  
  
A butterfly-winged man appeared, resplendent in shimmering robes of flowing colors, mostly shades of purple and green. His beautiful face was framed by long blonde hair, and his long ears marked him as being a fairy monster.  
  
"Young knight, you have called upon the lord and master of the fairy courts." said Oberon.  
  
"I'll also discard a Holy Grail to equip the Sword of the King, Excalibur!" said Dennis, pulling the sword from the stone that had appeared before him.  
  
"Oberon is an amazingly powerful monster!" said Sarah. "When there are seven or more Fairy or Hero cards in the dropzone, Oberon nullifies all of the opponent's monster effects!"  
  
"And, like, if that wasn't bad enough? He's got double attack." said Tess. "Not to mention totally rocking the Legolas look. Like, you have to be really powerful to pull that off."  
  
"Gorgas' soulguard effect won't work with Oberon on the field. And Excalibur brings Dennis up to a staggering four attacks, even without room for more monsters!"  
  
"Oberon, your majesty." said Dennis, giving a respectful nod to the fairy king. "Attack her monster!"  
  
"As you beseech." said Oberon, spreading his arms as he took to the air on his insect-like wings.  
  
"Cast - Nothing To It!" said Emily, holding up a glowing card. Vines shot out of it, ensnaring Oberon. "This spell card destroys any size 3 monster, but only if I have a size 2 wizard!"  
  
"Amazing!" said Sarah. "Even without his effects, Gorgas still has the attribute and size needed for this counter spell!"  
  
"Well played. So I'll destroy Gorgas myself." said Dennis, swinging Excalibur through Emily's buddy. Gorgas quickly reformed thanks to his soulguard. "And once again!" Another sword slash, followed by another soulguard revival.  
  
"Make it yours." said Dennis, landing back on his side of the stage.  
  
"Dennis chooses not to equip Gallatin from his hand!" said Sarah. "Is leaving Emily's only monster on the field a wise decision, especially after seeing Nothing To It destroy one of the strongest monsters in Legend World?"  
  
"Like, destroying Gorgas here isn't worth giving up Excalibur." said Tess, waving a sleeve. "It's totes one of the best swords in the game. It wrecks Dragon Shields _and_ Solomon's Shields."  
  
"True, true." said Sarah, nodding. "Giving up a double-attacking sword for a single extra attack would be an incredible risk at this stage in the game."  
  
"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"  
  
Life/Gauge/Hand  
5/2/1 | 5/1/4  
  
"Draw! Charge and draw!" said Emily. She smiled, and adjusted her glasses. "Yes! I've drawn just the monster I need!"  
  
"I'm ready when you are." said Dennis.  
  
"First, I use Hammerschmidt!" said Emily, this blast from her weapon revealing another Burning Wand and a Rainbow Horn.  
  
"I pay two gauge and call a monster over the top of my buddy - the Grand Dragowizard, Gorgas Lumna!" said Emily. "And I can move any two wizards from my dropzone to his soul!"  
  
Gorgas began glowing, and his clothes changed slightly. The sleeveless white-and-gold robes he usually wore became longer, looking more formal than usual. His pointed hat was replaced by a mortarboard, in the same color scheme.  
  
"A new form of your buddy?" asked Dennis, sounding a little surprised.  
  
"Not exactly?" said Emily, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "Gorgas Lumna is actually a form he had before ever meeting me."  
  
"Yes, it does feel strange to wear my graduation outfit again." said Gorgas, looking at his clothes.  
  
"I was trying out different versions of the deck when I came across this card in a listing for an older set." explained Emily. "Gorgas had never mentioned it to me before, and it's not a card that sees play in many decks, but I realized he filled a role in this deck that no other card could."  
  
"I admit that I didn't think it would be a useful form." said Gorgas. "I never brought it up because it requires so much commitment to a Dragowizard-centric deck. I suppose even the most innocuous details can lead to a scientific breakthrough."  
  
"The monster I play him on top of can be any size 2 or greater wizard, and I can move any two wizard cards from the dropzone to his soul." said Emily. "But without carefully managing my Dragowizard cards he'd just be a size 3 monster with Soulguard and a restand effect."  
  
"With clever use of his Dragowizard colleagues, I expect he is something more." asked Dennis.  
  
"Precisely! Just like your Legend World monsters build on older myths, new research can be based on old experiments!" said Emily, adjusting her glasses. "Gorgas Lumna inherits the abilities of every Dragowizard in his soul!"  
  
"Burning Wand's effect. My own direct damage ability, Spirit Orb. And Orella's gauge-boosting effect, Dragowizard's Research." said Gorgas. "An intriguing combination."  
  
"Buddyfighting is about honor and respect." said Dennis, nodding in approval. "Respect for one's buddy, deck and foes are all part of an honorable fight. You've combined your monsters well, and now we'll see if that's enough to match up to my own cards."  
  
"First of all, I can rest Gorgas Lumna using Gorgas' original effect!" said Emily. "Since he has more than one soul card, he deals two damage."  
  
"Spirit Orb!" called out Gorgas, shooting the orb of energy from his hands. "And, Dragowizard's Research!" he continued, one of Orella's scrolls manifesting in his hands before he unfurled it in the same manner as she previously had.  
  
"I see, Orella's effect adds one card to your gauge for each point of damage you just dealt." said Dennis.  
  
"And, when Gorgas Lumna rests, I can pay a lifepoint and remove a card from his soul to stand him!" said Emily. "I choose Gorgas! Now, Gorgas Lumna, use Burning Wand's effect!"  
  
The dragowizard held out a hand, a spinning wand appearing in it. He pointed it at Dennis. "Burning Wand!" he called out, shooting a fireball.  
  
"Now I'll pay another lifepoint, and remove Burning Wand to restand Gorgas Lumna again!" said Emily. "Attack the fighter!"  
  
Gorgas let out a battlecry as he leapt forward, his claws wreathed in magical blue flames.  
  
"Cast - Eluned's Ring!" said Dennis, holding up one of his hands. The eye-like gem on the ring repelled Gorgas Lumna's attack with a strange mystical energy. "I'll also use this card to discard Gallatin, gaining one lifepoint and drawing a card!"  
  
"I'll remove Orella, letting Gorgas Lumna attack again!" said Emily, her lifepoints ticking down.  
  
"Cast - Bloody Holy Grail!" said Dennis. True to the name, the Holy Grail that appeared was filled with a bubbling red liquid. "Which adds the original Holy Grail back to my hand!"  
  
"That's fine, because now I don't need to attack any more!" said Emily.  
  
"Final phase!" she called out. The three cards from her gauge turned into stars, flying into the shining card she held aloft.  
  
"An impact card?" said Dennis.  
  
"Not just any impact! This is the Great Spell, Dragowizard's Grand Thesis!" said Emily. "It's an impact that can only be cast when I have six different wizards in the dropzone, but it has two powerful effects - the first of which is to destroy every monster and item my opponent controls!"  
  
"My Excalibur!" exclaimed Dennis, the legendary sword shattering in his hand.  
  
"That's not the end of it!" said Emily. "The card has a second effect if those six wizards are all Dragowizards!"  
  
Six oversized cards appeared in front of her, each turning to face Dennis.  
  
"Gorgas, Orella, Burning Wand, Tempest Wing, Qinus Axia and Rainbow Horn!" said Sarah, the cards turning into those monsters as she named each. "Six Dragowizards!"  
  
"The six Dragowizards in my dropzone combine their magical knowledge!" said Emily. "By returning every card in my dropzone to my deck, I can deal 3 points of damage!"  
  
Rainbow Horn and Axia pointed their staffs in the air. Tempest Wing levitated a glowing crystal ball in the air while both the original Gorgas and Lumna formed spheres of energy between their hands, raised high above their heads. Orella let her many scrolls float in the air around her. Emily joined Burning Wand in pointing a wand upwards too, though hers was her core gadget. All this magical power was gradually creating a gigantic rotating magic circle, surrounded by strange symbols.  
  
"All those who seek knowledge..." said Rainbow Horn, turning back into a card and flying into Emily's core gadget.  
  
"...are united by a bond of friendship..." said Axia, before vanishing as well.  
  
"...and driven on by a shared love of knowledge!" said Tempest Wing.  
  
"Whether monster or human..." said Burning Wand.  
  
"...wizard or dragon..." said Orella.  
  
"...or even the same person, at two stages in their life!" said the original Gorgas, nodding to Lumna before he vanished like the others.  
  
Emily and Gorgas Lumna stood side by side. He manifested a wand like hers (though without a core), and the two of them pointed their wands at Dennis.  
  
"Cast! Grand Thesis!" they called out in unison. The great magical seal behind them glowed with a blinding light, and flew rapidly towards Dennis as he shielded his eyes with a hand. His lifepoints ticked down to zero, the Legend World flag behind him shattering into pieces.  
  
"[Winner: Emily Primrose.]"  
  
"I... did it!" said Emily, looking at the wand in amazement. "I really did it! I won!"  
  
"Cassie told me this morning that I'd be happy with the outcome of our matches." said Dennis, floating down beside her on his buddy skill. "And I must say, even losing here, I'm pleased that you've become a respectable buddyfighter in your own right."  
  
"You'd be happy if you had won, too." objected Emily, as Dalahast nuzzled her.  
  
Dennis laughed. "Yes, that's how it is sometimes." He put a hand on Emily's shoulder. "Now, head to the final round, and make it yours."  
  
The crowd cheered as the two of them hugged.  
  
"After three amazing fights, Team Serendipity advance over Team Shining Knights!" said Sarah. "There's still one more thrilling matchup today - the Warlords are against Hotline. Will we see another upset victory?"  
  
"Like, no disrespect, but we're gonna be in the finals." said Tess.  


* * *

  
  
"Emily, please forgive me for earlier." said Gorgas. "You've made your point - you still have much to learn from the wizards of Magic World, as we do from the humans of Earth. I fear I was being too rude."  
  
Emily giggled. "Don't worry, I've already forgotten all about it."  
  
"Hopefully not literally." chuckled Gorgas.  
  
Dave and myself joined in the laughter that ensued.  
  
There was the sound of someone slow-clapping behind us. " _Heartwarming_." said a voice.  
  
"Schwarzschild!" said Dave, as we turned to face him. The Warlord was here alone, but no less imposing for his lack of teammates.  
  
"You've upset the natural order of our most noble Academy." said the older boy. "Lords that stand above Knights, and Knights that stand above everyone else." he continued, gesticulating grandly with one hand.  
  
"And Trash that are beneath even the common fighters, of course." he said.  
  
"Fun fact, we've just as much right to be here as you!" said Dave, genuine anger in his voice. "You've not even had your semifinal match yet!"  
  
"Reaching the finals as you did was mere luck. Thinking you're on the same level as us is disrespectful to all of your opponents, even the worst of them." said Schwarzschild, wagging a gloved finger at Dave.  
  
"Now, let me explain how this is going to work." continued the Warlord. "I will be your team's first opponent in the final round. Defeat me and your next foe will be our leader. Otherwise? _Well_ , we'll just have to see."  
  
He pushed up his glasses with that finger, once again giving Dave an evil smirk. "Perhaps your friend won't ever get the chance to fight her."  
  
He shrugged, his expression becoming carefully calm. "I'll leave you to discuss your plans. Oh." he said, glancing sidelong at me. "And _congratulations_ on even making it this far." He turned to walk away.  
  
"Guys, I'll go up against Schwarzschild." said Dave.  
   
"You know he's trying to bait you into going first, right?" I said. "If his deck's what I think it is you're not actually our best matchup against him."  
  
"Timo." said Dave. "We can't put you against him because that'd mean you don't get to fight your sister. And, fun fact, this is nearly as personal for me."  
  
He raised a fist in front of himself. "And I'm not going to mess up. Not like I did against Cassie."  
  
"Dave, nobody blames you for that." I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "She'd have completely blindsided any of us."  
  
"And I'm not going to lose to him this time." said Dave "Fun fact, I thought I was over all that before, but now I know. With my friends behind me, I can beat him. Hey, I could beat _anyone_!"  


* * *

  
  
The Warlords had been drawn against against Team Hotline. Their leader was facing off against Nat. Her mask, based on the horned skull of her buddy Galkheight, obscured her entire face. Even her eyes were hidden behind red and blue lenses. She had a gauntlet core gadget on her left arm that resembled her buddy's red left hand. No, not on her left arm - on closer inspection it was attached at the shoulder joint, separated from her real arm, effectively giving her a third hand. That extra hand appeared to be wagging a finger at Nat independently of her normal limbs.  
  
  
"Death Damage destroys your center monster!" shouted Nina, placing a cup of coffee into the hand of her core gadget. "And now each of my Galkheights will attack! With Pain Field active, blocking even one of them will cost you three gauge and a lifepoint!"  
  
"Did you know-" said the first Galkheight.  
  
"-gods of death-" continued the second.  
  
"-have red hands?" finished the third, as all three attacked Nat in succession.  
  
"Nina's Blood Money deck certainly lives up to its name!" said Sarah. "Every time her opponent tries to do anything her set spell and monsters extort just a little more!"  
  
"Indeed, but I wouldn't count the leader of the Warlords out of this yet. Who." said Stolas, pausing briefly. "Can say what the next draw may bring?"  
  
"I thought you'd be cheering on Hotline for this. Weren't you Nina's buddy last time around?" asked Sarah.  
  
The owl demon waved a wing dismissively. "Only for the month or so surrounding the tournament. She did have a novel use of my effect in her deck, but we were two buddies who." He paused for a second again. "Simply didn't work together well enough to stay. I don't begrudge her for switching from Magic World."  
  
"She had that owl mask last time too. I have to say, her team have really stepped up their outfit game this time around." said Sarah, gesturing at the immaculate suit topped by a terrifying skull mask.  
  
"Yes, only Karl had an official buddy at the time." said Stolas. "The entire team have Darkness Dragon World buddy monsters now."  
  
I looked at Nat, wondering how she intended to get out of this. For a moment, she turned her head to stare directly at me in the crowd.  
  
"Oi!" said Nina. "Look over here!"  
  
"Look over here. Look over here." said two of the three copies of her buddy, their skull-like faces grinning at Nat. The third one just chittered its teeth continually.  
  
"We've still got a fight going on here!" said Nina. "And I'm going to finish it before my coffee gets cold!"  
  
She removed the steaming cup from her core gadget's fingers, the jaw of her skull mask opening so she could take a drink.  
  
"After all, my Great River of Hades set spell means my Death monsters can't be destroyed by card effects." said Nina from beneath her skull mask. "So even your Gael Khan isn't strong enough to win!"  
  
"Is that so." said Nat flatly, scowling.  


* * *

  
  
"You've defeated me, my daughter!" said her opponent. "If only my worthless son was as strong as you!"  
  
"So that's all." said Nat, dusting off her hands as the monsters on her field faded away. "I'm strong enough to crush you in a fight. I will learn the rest of your recipes, and Timofei can be left in peace."  
  
"Of course not!" bellowed her father. "I need my son to become strong enough, to become my true heir!"  
  
" _What_?" exclaimed Nat.  
  
"I always pushed you to become strong in the hopes he'd rise up to challenge you as a rival, instead of being coddled by you and his mother!" he said.  
  
"You... you always meant for me to be some... _rabbit_ chased by dogs? Only there to be _surpassed_?" snarled Nat.  
  
"Only when Timofei has matched you in strength will he ever be worth anything. A girl could never truly be strong enough!"  
  
"Strong." she spat, and clenched her fist. "I'll become the strongest in the world, then you'll see."  


* * *

  
  
"Humans have a world full of resources, but they still wage war. They squabble over petty details, even as others fight for survival." said Gael Khan's voice from her core deck case. "Come back with me to Danger World, and increase your strength even more. Rise above these worthless humans."  


* * *

  
  
"Draw." she said, staring down her opponent. She slammed her fist against her core gadget shield. "Charge and draw."  
  
She raised that clenched fist in front of her face.  
  
"This is the final turn." stated Nat.  
  
"What?" said the sharply-dressed girl, in utter disbelief. "No, that's impossible! You can't... you can't have a way out of this! We researched all of your strategies!"  
  
"I don't believe it - Natasha Zaitsev has just called 'Final Turn'!" said Sarah.  
  
"Not a move common to this game." said Stolas.  
  
"I pay two gauge and destroy Gaelcorga Ark to call to the center."  
  
"Your buddy won't get you out of this one." said Nina, waving a hand dismissively. "He's strong, but his effect won't open my center."  
  
"I call my buddy's other form." Her eyes opened wide as she flung the card forwards. "Composite Zombie Dragon, Gallows Karn!" she snarled.  
  
"G-Gallows Karn?" said Nina. She took a step back, her surprise evident from her voice and body language even though her face was still hidden under the oversized mask.  
  
The new monster heavily resembled Gael Khan, albeit with a more skeletal appearance. Its face was a horned skull, its golden claws were more pronounced with less flesh, and the tattered red cloak clasped about its shoulders was certainly striking, but it was undeniably another form of Nat's buddy.  
  
"Even my shadow is enough to deal with you." said Gael Khan, from behind Nat. "His power will let him reach across your monsters and tear you apart."  
  
"What a shock! Gael Khan has another form!" said Sarah. "Do you know anything about him, Stolas?"  
  
"Hmph. Who." said the demon, "Do you think I am? Vision Thing!" His eyes began glowing yellow.  
  
"My power shows me... A dual card from Danger World and Darkness Dragon World, with Death, Deep and Duel Dragon attributes?" exclaimed Stolas. "He has Shadow Dive and an effect that destroys all opposing monsters if the attack hits? My word!"  
  
"So Natasha is using a Death monster to beat Nina's own Death Ruler deck? That is _ice cold_!"  
  
"Gallows Karn." said Nat. "Destroy her."  
  
The skeletal dragon roared and charged forwards, becoming billowing smoke when passing through the center Galkheight before reforming to strike at Nina with his sword-like arm.  
  
["Winner: Natasha Zaitsev."]  


* * *

  
  
Karl, the Hotline fighter wearing the eerily realistic insect mask and deliberately scruffy suit, was buddyfighting Schwarzschild.  
  
"What's up, now Black Dragon Inflame's gone I can pay a gauge for Death Game. We play Rock Paper Scissors and the winner picks a card on the field to destroy. My field is empty. Let's do this."  
  
"I see. Well played." Schwarzschild pushed up his glasses. "With no cards on your field then you've merely offered me a Sophie's Choice about which of my monsters lives and dies."  
  
He gave a smirk to the roach-masked boy. "Unfortunately for you the only thing more expendable than your monsters would be [i]my[/i] monsters."  
  
"Scissors."/"Paper."  
  
The mechanical arm bearing the Warlord's two-fingered gesture destroyed the flat-palm thrown by the Hotline member. Hotliner?  
  
The older boy slammed his book shut, and gestured towards the armored skeleton on the field, who was standing to the side his buddy. "I choose to destroy my remaining Dragon Tooth Warrior."  
  
"Alright. But Black Wolf Ulbha comes back from the dropzone when you do."  
  
"Psst. Heeeey! Over here!" said a voice from somewhere nearby us in the stands. I looked around. "Down here!"  
  
It was... a little pink cat robot? Oh right, it must be that Thief Cat.  
  
"Dave!" said Sphinxy, squirming about in Dave's lap. "It's her!"  
  
"Oh hey, it's... Pepper, I think?" said Dave.  
  
"The boss wants to talk to ya!" said the pink darkhero. "All of ya!"  
  
"Uh, our whole team?" I asked.  
  
"But we'd miss the rest of this fight!" said Emily.  
  
"He's got a big deal for ya!" said the Thief Cat, waving a paw in the air while striking a cute pose. "Limited time offer! Everything must go!"  
  
"Right, right, we get the picture." said Dave.  


* * *

  
  
"Kids, kids!" said the former Warlord, looking down at us over his weird dollar-shaped sunglasses. "Congrats on making it to the final round! Whaddya think of the Warlords showing off in their fights, huh?"  
  
"Fun fact, we're missing one of their fights right now." said Dave.  
  
Enterprise laughed. The Thief Cat, now perched on his shoulder, giggled as well. "Heck, that's the whole point." he said. "I don't want this getting back to the Warlords just yet, and I don't want Hotline listening in on this one."  
  
"So, uh, what do you want to talk to us about?" I asked.  
  
"Funny thing, thought I'd surprise my old team by showing up for this tournament." he said. "But I gotta say, speaking to them after their fights yesterday? Trying to find out what their new boss is up to? Not a great time."  
  
Dave laughed. "Fun fact, I really can't see Timo's sister getting along with you."  
  
"You don't know the half of it." said Enterprise. "You wanna know what she said, when I asked?"  


* * *

  
  
"I want to fight him." said Nat. "I'll face him at his strongest, and _crush him_."  
  
"Of course. And I have my own preferred opponent on that team." said Schwarzschild, spreading his gloved hands. "Exploiting his foolish rivalry with me to force him into making mistake after mistake."  
  
"Which leaves me with, like, Emily or Eva." said Tess. "Totally sure I'd win, but I'd feel bad about, like, punching them in the face?" she added with a half-shrug.  
  
"Michael!" said the older boy, shaking his head with a wry smile. "I told you to keep the Warlords running, but I'm pretty freakin' sure I didn't tell you to start picking up crazy vendettas against twelve-year olds."  
  
"I rather think we're running perfectly." said Schwarzschild, pushing up his glasses with one gloved finger. "We're certain to win the final round, after all."  
  
"Of course I know your scheme." said Enterprise. "Let me guess, there was someone on each team you were going to manipulate into fighting you, and you've got some big plan to throw them off their respective games. Say, an Armorknight fighter with a grudge, or a girl who'd follow advice blindly if she thought it was 'destiny'."  
  
"Oh? Now, that's quite an insinuation." said the younger boy, with a dark smirk.  
  
"All that plotting doesn't help if you get blindsided by some nobody with a new buddy." said Enterprise. "No offence, new girl."  
  
Nat raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.  
  
"You said anyone who beat us is the boss, so she's the boss." huffed Tess, crossing her arms.  
  
"Kids, kids. Where would you be without me, Tess?" said Enterprise, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Back with short hair, on some no-name team with a deck you could never get to work. You'd never have everyone looking your way like that. Ain't it so much better when everyone's giving you the attention you deserve?"  
  
"I guess." mumbled Tess.  
  
"I can tell you now, there ain't a trick you guys got that I didn't teach you. I _made_ you." he said, slinking away to lean against a wall, his arms folded.  
  
Nat placed one of her hands on the front of his shirt. She lifted him up so he was at eye level with her.  
  
"You _didn't_ make _me_." she growled.  
  
Unfazed at being physically held off the ground, he laughed. "So what, I show everyone who's really the boss? We buddyfighting on the big stage now?"  
  
"No." said Nat. "We will fight in Danger World."  


* * *

  
"Long story short? My deck got the beatdown of a _lifetime_. She's the real deal, the cat's meow.", he said, his buddy giving an accompanying paw gesture. "You know she's basically living in Danger World? Every night her buddy takes her back there to fight. Classic 'training from hell'."  
  
"Y-yeah." I said. "I know."  
  
"Oh?" said Emily, adjusting her glasses before fumbling in one of her pockets for a notebook. "Wait, did she say that when she was fighting Dave? Maybe I wrote it down..."  
  
"No. I, uh, talked to my dad." I said, looking downwards.  
  
"Timo." said Dave, concern in his voice.  
  
"I just... I talked to him on the phone the day after after Dave fought her, and he said..." I took a moment to calm down a little. "Uh, basically Nat fought him right after she got her buddy, and just hasn't been back since."  
  
"Not too fond of your old man. Hey, not judging, I know plenty of fighters with their own family problems. Half of why I picked the dorkiest nickname I could." said Enterprise. "But I ain't here to gossip - Let's talk _business_."  
  
"Business?" I said.  
  
"I know talent when I see it." said Enterprise. "Remember when I sent Tess your way? That's what really convinced everyone you're the up-and-coming deckbuilder around here!"  
  
Emily giggled. "We also ended up being very close friends. After my family and my team she's one of the people I care about most."  
  
"And heck, I hear Eva's becoming pretty close with the newspaper club." he continued. "Who do you think set it up so Nina got her shot at running the rag? Damn fine job she's doing, too."  
  
"And hey, Dave, you know me!" he added, sidling up beside my teammate to playfully elbow him in the side. "You know I'm always good for my deals! Don't you wanna hear me out when I say I've got something you guys want?"  
  
"This ain't just a social call, kids." said Enterprise. "Tell me, what's the most important thing in business?"  
  
"Uh, good... customer service?" I ventured.  
  
"Making a product people want?" suggested Dave.  
  
"Kids, kids." he said, shaking his head.  
  
"Brand." said Eva, staring at him.  
  
He laughed, and made a gesture towards her. Double finger-guns. "Of course you'd get it! With your haunted house, and your hook-handed henchman. Good work, spooky girl, you're right!" he said. "Come on, you see someone with a buddy, a core gadget, a buddy skill, and you know almost everything about 'em. The most important thing in marketing, in Buddyfight, in life? It's _Branding_."  
  
"If people know your brand, they can't help but respect you some. With the right branding, you can do _anything_." He chuckled. "You could even become the president of the United States on brand alone, with nothing but dirty deeds to your name. And the Warlords, the strongest team Karras Academy has ever seen, are _my brand_."  
  
"Fun fact, you didn't found them." interrupted Dave. "I've lived in and out of Academy City for years, so I met some of the old Warlords."  
  
"And what'd you think of them?" said the older boy. "The Warlords, before I started running the show?"  
  
"Eh, fun fact? They were kind of dorks." said Dave, shrugging. "They used to be some tabletop games club. Fun fact, they've been around for a couple of decades? Still pretty good buddyfighters, though."  
  
Enterprise laughed. "Turns out, I'm not even on Natasha's level when it comes to buddyfighting. I fought my way to the top of that team by beating most of them, but I couldn't just grab the crown by beating everyone back then." He glanced aside at the Thief Cat on his shoulder. "But me and Pepper here? We talked them into making that the golden rule of the Warlords."  
  
He spread his arms, Thief Cat clambering up onto his shoulder to strike the same pose. "If you can beat all of the Academy's best team, then they become _your_ team. Simple enough, ain't it?"  
  
"Why did you even do that?" asked Emily. "I know they've been level with the Shining Knights for a long time. Even back when my parents were at school."  
  
"Fun fact, there haven't been many times any other team took the cup." said Dave, nodding in agreement.  
  
"The myth of the unbeatable team, the team that takes on all challengers and crushes them, the team which only grows stronger if anyone rises up to fight them? _That_!" He snapped his fingers for emphasis. "Is branding. Just being on the team made the academy's best and brightest come to me, looking for a good fight or a good deal."  
  
"And your big sis, Natasha Zaitsev? She's taking my branding one step further. If she and her team win, then everyone will be trying to bring that level of brute strength to the table next year." said Enterprise. "And the next, and the next, yadda yadda." he added, twirling a hand dismissively.  
  
"So, uh, you're here to tell us to just give up? The Warlords are going to win, because they're your brand?" I asked.  
  
"Ha, no." He said with a laugh, and pointed at me. "I'm here to help you beat them."  
  
"Ta da~!" said his buddy, jumping to the floor in front of us. There was a sudden puff of smoke around her.  
  
The Thief Cat was now holding a suitcase, which she opened for us. It was filled with cards. My eyes widened. Those cards, they were...  
  
"Rare and powerful Great Spells from Magic World! Evolved Armorknights to power a _killer_ offense! Demon Ways you _ain't even heard of_! Heck, I even got my hands on some Horror World cards, and scary ones at that!" said Enterprise, leaning on top of the offered suitcase and pointing to piles of outrageously rare cards in turn. "You want it, I got it! All at a fair and reasonable price!"  
  
"...And what price is that?" I asked, a little suspicious. This was starting to sound too good to be true.  
  
"All you have to do? Just say you'll become part of my brand." he replied.  
  
"Fun fact, I don't even know how we'd _become_ your brand?" said Dave, looking a little confused. "How would that even work?"  
  
"Simple. Beat the Warlords, say you did it with my help." He held out his hands in front of himself, one above the other, then moved the lower hand above the upper. "The myth of the unbeatable team fades away, and everyone remembers that I raised some underdogs to the top. How's that sound, eh?" he said, now nudging Dave with an elbow.  
  
"You kids, you've got potential! You could stay at the top for years, with me and my Darkhero friends propping you up!" He patted his buddy on the head. "You get your win against big sis, and that ain't even the end of it! Everything the Warlords've got - fame, respect, even the start of a real legacy!"  
  
"That's... a really big sales pitch." I said.  
  
"I could build all sorts of decks with those..." said Emily.  
  
"Fun fact, I've never even seen half these Armorknight cards in person." added Dave.  
  
I didn't know if we could trust him, especially as he had ran the Warlords for years. But if it made sure I could fight Nat. If it made sure that I could finally stand a real chance against her and her buddy. If my team won the tournament because of his help...  
  
Would it be worth it?  
  
"So." said Enterprise, a devilish grin on his face. "What do you say?"  
  
"No." said a voice. Strong, confident, defiant. "Absolutely not."  
  
It took me a moment to realize the source of the voice, to notice everyone was looking at the person who spoke.  
  
It was me.  
  
Enterprise grinned, turning his head to look at me cock-eyed. "Timo, was it? Your big sis runs a tight ship on my old team." He gestured again to the suitcase of cards. "Come on, don't just dismiss it out of hand. It'll help you be better than the Warlords!"  
  
"If we take you up on this deal, then we'd be _no better_ than the Warlords." I said, my voice completely lacking my usual uncertainty.  
  
If anything we'd be far worse - we'd be throwing away the trust and friendship we had built together just to win this one fight. I'd be selfishly asking the others to throw away everything for my own sake, just so I could beat Nat this one time. My team had a lot in common with the Warlords, but right now? I could only think of how our worst traits overlapped with theirs.  
  
I knew Eva had a softer side. But on the surface she already acted as cold as my sister sometimes, albeit neutrally rather than full of disdain for everyone she met. She had been the first to point out that the Warlords hated each other, and even in her flat tone it had been clear that the very idea was unsettling to her.  
  
It was hard to imagine the kind and eccentric Emily ever acting anything like the scheming and manipulative Schwarzschild. But her deckbuilding talents and obsessive personality would make her terrifying if she was driven to use them to keep a team perpetually at the top of the rankings. I could almost see her becoming completely consumed by a task like that.  
  
Worst of all, would Dave become more like Tess, who had grown to have more in common with her opponents than her teammates? Would he grow apart from all of us, yet never tell us why? Would I lose him as a friend?  
  
Would I not even care?  
  
"We refuse." said Eva. She had appeared at my side without me realizing.  
  
"Spooky girl, you've been quiet this whole time." Enterprise said, shaking his head, still grinning. "Y'know, after seeing you in action last year? I half-expected _you_ to end up challenging my Warlords."  
  
Eva shook her head a little.  
  
"I belong here." she said. "With my friends."  
  
"Yeah!" said Dave, stepping forward putting a hand on her shoulder, and raising the other in front of himself as a fist. "Fun fact, _your_ Warlords are terrified of Timo's big sis. They don't really care about each other, and that's why we'll beat them!"  
  
"It's hardly a team if nobody's friends." said Emily, now standing on my other side.  
  
I looked at Enterprise, the Warlord to the Warlords. A creeping realization dawned on me as I thought about who I'd be if we had said yes.  
  
I'd be _him_.  
  
He had thrown away his own name and was trying to use entire teams as his tools, instead of seeing his former teammates as friends. It might make it easier to fight Nat, but if I took those cards I'd have lost sight of _why_ I was fighting her. I wouldn't be fighting for friendship, for someone I cared about. I'd only be fighting to win, and once I started doing that I'd never be able to stop.  
  
How could I even have _thought_ about accepting his offer?  
  
I looked at my friends, my team, standing beside me. "Sorry, but none of us could ever say yes to that." I said.  
  
The older boy shook his head. His buddy's robotic ears seemed to droop.  
  
"Well, not the answer we wanted to hear. But you got my whole pitch, and I ain't gonna keep selling if nobody's buying." said Enterprise, waving his hand. His buddy closed the suitcase, and gave a small bow towards us.  
  
"But right now? The Warlords'd _roll_ you, and if you just lose without any kinda fight? Well, it wouldn't even make them look good! You ain't gonna stand the first chance without knowing one little thing." he said, raising a finger on one hand.  
  
"Natasha's buddy, Gael Khan?" He pulled down his dollar-sign shades with that finger, looking over them at us. "He _evolved_."  
  
"Well yeah. Fun fact, we all saw Gallows Karn before you pulled us away." said Dave, a little dismissively. "He's more of a sidegrade, but hey."  
  
"He thinks I mean _Gallows Karn_! Imagine!" Enterprise grinned, and turned to walk away. "Don't say I didn't warn you." he said. His buddy, still on his shoulder, turned around to stare at us as he left.  
  
"See ya next time!" said the pink cat-like Darkhero in a cheery voice.  
  
We watched in silence until they left. That was kind of an emotional conversation, and I got the feeling I wasn't the only one who didn't know what to say now. Finally, Dave spoke.  
  
"So... Team hug?" he asked.  
  
Emily giggled, and tackle-hugged him. "Come on! Eva, Timo!" she said.  
  
I put my arms around Dave and Emily, feeling a little awkward at first. Then Eva stepped forward to hug all three of us.  
  
Dave laughed, and pulled his phone out of his pocket, and freed that arm to take a photo of us all together. We all stayed like that for a couple of minutes. It felt... really nice.  
  
"Do you think there's a third form of Gael Khan nobody's seen yet?" said Emily, as we all eventually stepped out of the hug. "What could he even have evolved into?"  
  
"I don't know." I admitted. "I guess we just have to be careful."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grand Dragowizard, Gorgas Lumna  
> Magic World|Wizard  
> S3/7000/2/5000  
> [Call Cost] [Put this card on top of a size 2 or greater «Wizard» on your field & Put two «Wizard» from your drop zone into this card's soul & Pay 2 gauge]  
> This card gets the abilities of all cards in its soul with "Dragowizard" in their card names.  
> When this card [Rest], you may pay 1 life and put a soul from this card into the drop zone. If you do, [Stand] this card.  
> [Soulguard]
> 
> Dragowizard, Orella  
> Magic World|Wizard  
> S1/4000/1/1000  
> "Dragowizard's Research" When your opponent is dealt damage by your card effect, put cards from the top of your deck into your gauge equal to the damage dealt! "Dragowizard's Research" only activates once per turn.
> 
> Great Spell, Dragowizard's Grand Thesis  
> Magic World|Wizard  
> Impact  
> You may only cast this card if there are six or more different «Wizard» in your drop zone.  
> [Cast Cost] [Pay 3 gauge]  
> Destroy all monsters and items on your opponent's field! Then, if there are six or more different cards with "Dragowizard" in its card name in your drop zone, deal 3 damage to your opponent! Then, return all cards from your drop zone to your deck.


	19. Nemesis Crown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the finals begin, Dave faces off against his former friend. But the Warlord's Hundred Demon deck has more than its share of nasty surprises, including a card he's kept secret even from his own teammates.

"So I know Eva's from Norway." I said. It was movie night, the same night Dave had tried to fight Nat. Eva nodded slightly. "And Emily's from England, but where are you from?"  
  
"Dungeon World." said Dave.  
  
"Really?" I asked. "I mean, your last name isn't exactly common, but..."  
  
Dave grinned. "Fun fact, I was born there. Danger World might fit my fighting style better, but I have nothing but love for Dungeon World." He shrugged. "Buuuut my dad's from Italy, if that's what you're asking."  
  
"That, uh, sounds like an interesting story." I said. "Your dad was pretty vague about some things, but he did mention living in Dungeon World for a while. So that photo on his desk..."  
  
"Yep, that's me. Fun fact, I'm cuter as a boy, right?" said Dave, pointing at his smile with both hands.  
  
I laughed a little. "Uh, I was going to ask if that photo was taken in Dungeon World, but sure." I said. "I've never actually been to the other worlds."  
  
"That's the last picture with all three of us together. Mom wasn't really the type to pose for photos, and we thought she'd still be..." said Dave, trailing off a little. "Fun fact, that's kind of why I take so many selfies with you guys."  
  
"Anyway, want to hear my family's awesome backstory?" said Dave, back to his usual chipper tone.  
  


* * *

  
  
"So you want to know the tragic tale of my worthless father." said Schwarzschild, pushing up his glasses as he spoke to Enterprise, after the older boy had fought Nat after the first round of the tournament. "The reason that I have a 'crazy vendetta' against a twelve-year old, as you said."  
  


* * *

  
  
"...Sure?" I said.  
  
"So mom and dad were sent off on this boat trip, and fun fact? Storms in Dungeon World can get really bad. It's why there are so many prayers you're meant to say to like twelve different gods to protect your boats - got to pray to Shalsana, Glacious... you know." said Dave. "So anyway, their ship got blown off course, and they were marooned on some little island that wasn't even on their map. The storm dies down and they're on some tiny island, no other land visible for miles. But fun fact, it's this really beautiful place! Bright green grass, cute purple flowers all around, little thatched houses, water so clear you can see yourself..."  
  
"Oh, it's Vervayens Isle!" Emily giggled.  
  
"Shush, I'm telling the story." said Dave, with a smile. "So they go out exploring, and there's nobody around. Just statues of alcs and cobalts."  
  
"Alcs?" I asked. I had seen some cobalts before - the dog-people in Professor V's deck.  
  
"A type of Dungeon Enemy." offered Eva.  
  
"Oh, they're cool pig guys. Fun fact, they make some of the coolest weapons in Dungeon World!" said Dave. "So they finally find some cobalts working in a field, and go up to say 'hey, where is everyone?', and the cobalts just run and hide."  
  


* * *

  
  
"The cobalts fled, for fear that the island's new master would punish them for allowing trespassers to live." said Schwarzschild.  
  


* * *

  
  
"Mom and dad saw this big castle up on a cliff edge, and they go there for answers. And they find out why everyone's so scared - the castle belonged to a Gorgon Demon Lord, who was kind of a jerk." said Dave.  
  


* * *

  
  
"Tzo-Lah. A demon lord who never became a card, of course. She ruled over her own small kingdom, and had done so for long enough that seafarers did not speak of the island, even omitting it from maps." said Schwarzschild. "Nigh-indestructible scales, on a level that would certainly grant her Soulguard if it was possible to call her. Her baleful gaze allowed her to retaliate to any attempt at rebelion by simply looking upon the perpetrators with her evil eye, turning them to stone."  
  


* * *

  
  
"So they look in through the window, and they see this big snake lady yelling at a little Mameshiba Cobalt, saying she'll turn them into a statue because they didn't bring enough food for her to have another big feast, and mom just looks at dad and says 'yo, we gotta do something about this'."  
  
"Yeah, even if they're called Dungeon Enemies I know a lot of them aren't really evil." I said. The cobalts I had met were pretty friendly, as far as monsters went. I could understand taking their side in that fight, even if they hadn't yet became friends with humans. "So, uh, that's after you mom met her buddy?"  
  
"Fun fact? Joker got thrown out to sea by her tail right away.", continued Dave, "And dad hadn't became buddies with Rain yet. So it was mom fighting off a demon lord with nothing but her weapon. But it was a cool core gadget whip, so she was swinging from chandeliers, flinging chairs around with it, all that cool stuff!"  
  
"And dad had ran off to get his books from the wrecked ship. And he rushes back, 'cause fun fact, he had figured out how to beat her!"  
  


* * *

  
  
"He yelled out that making the gorgon look into her own eyes would break her curse, and free everyone who had been petrified." said Schwarzschild. "Foolish of him to let the monster herself hear that they knew her weakness, but I suppose it was their only chance."  
  


* * *

  
  
"And the demon lord's all like..." Dave started.  
  
"Foolissssh adventurers! There are no mirrorssss on my island!" Emily hissed, before breaking out into giggles.  
  
Dave laughed. "See? Emily's heard this one way too many times! So mom just laughs, says she's running off to get a mirror, and the gorgon slithers after her!"  
  


* * *

  
  
"She dodged the demon lord's gaze once or twice, perhaps by luck or perhaps by skill. None of the monsters would stand by her, so she was left to weave a fighting retreat to the shore." said Schwarzschild. "And once they reached the shoreline..."  
  


* * *

  
  
"There wasn't actually a mirror she could use on the boat, but mom knew that all long." said Dave. "She used her whip to pull the demon lord's head just past herself! And fun fact, with the water that calm, the gorgon saw her face for the first time!"  
  


* * *

  
  
"And, the last." said Schwarzschild. "In her anger at someone discovering her weakness, the demon lord had followed her would-be assassin to the only source of a reflection on the island - the calm sea that followed a storm."  
  


* * *

  
  
"So all the other statues came back to life, Joker washed up on shore alive and well, and the Dungeon Enemies living on the island are just so happy. For the first time in years they're all free to do whatever they want." said Dave. "So they throw a feast, or try to."  
  
I laughed. "Right, half of them had been statues, so they didn't have enough food."  
  
"Yeah, dad tells me they went a little hungry for a while there, but they all pulled through. Mom and dad helped get the farms up and running again. So not only are they heroes for fighting off this demon lord, everyone loves them because they're trying their best to help." said Dave. "Eventually they got in contact with the expedition team, but the monsters didn't want them to leave. They say 'go live in the castle', but mom and dad turn them down. They don't really want to rule the island."  
  
"So what, the island was renamed after them instead?" I asked.  
  
"Fun fact? Other way around." said Dave, holding up a finger. "Some of the cobalts called mom the 'Saviour of Vervayens Isle', but that's kind of a mouthful, so they just started calling her 'Vervayens'. And... she kind of kept the name, because she liked it. So years later dad married her, and then they both had the name."  
  
Emily adjusted her glasses again. "The island's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but that's where Dave was born when they were living in Dungeon World." she said. "But just the act of putting it back on the map as a place Dungeon World monsters could visit made other Dungeon Enemies a lot happier to talk to humans. It was a big step in their relationship with Earth."  
  


* * *

  
  
"Alright, I get it, the kid's family is a bigger deal than I thought. But you haven't even brought up your dad in this whole thing." said Enterprise. "What is this, some shaggy dog story?"  
  
"The cruel twist in this story was, of course, before any of it started." said Schwarzschild, pushing up his glasses. "Before their journey, tasks were assigned to the team at random. My father lost a coin flip with the man who would become James Vervayens, and was sent to an ultimately fruitless meeting with some Province Baron instead of boarding the ship. In doing so he was consigned to a life of no importance."  
  
"No major tournament victories. No great legacy to pass on to me. Not even a buddy worth mentioning - merely a common thief of an adventurer." he continued. "Not even the clothes on my back - I had to craft these outfits myself, to put on the image of the lord I ought to have been born as."  
  
"And that, dear _Esteban_ , is why his spurning of the opportunity to becomes buddies with a great demon lord, of him befriending a mere armorknight, is so _utterly despicable_ to me." he said. "In doing so he has robbed me of even the chance to benefit from _his_ luck. That is why I had to become a great deckbuilder, analyst and fighter, lest any so-called _friends_ forsake me in the same manner."  
  


* * *

  
  
TEAM WARLORDS  
2.  
Michael Schwarzschild / Parade Of Hundred Demons / Death Master, Lelag Monarch. "Ermenrichs Tod" - Dungeon Enemy Swarm.  
Theatre club, Sewing club  
The cunning dungeon master of the Warlords. The director of the theatre club, who also sews many of their outfits. The longest-serving current member of his team.  
Fun fact:  
Nina: Any fight with him is going to be an absolute meatgrinder. Drop him fast or have a really, really good plan for the late game.  
Eva: Penetrate is more useful than extra attacks here.  
  


* * *

  
"Up on stage, to die the death." said the older boy. "Here to lose in front of your friends."  
  
"You can keep saying that, but fun fact? I'm going to do my best. For my team, and for myself!" said Dave. He reached down to bump his fist against his buddy's paw. "Not to mention for my buddy!"  
  
"None of us can be as cruel as all of us." said Schwarzschild, smirking as his core deck case turned into a grimoire with an eye symbol on its cover, surrounding the core.  "Luminize - Einhundert Diener Des Todes!"  
  
Dave twirled his core gadget staff in one hand as he said his luminzie chant. "I've got one question for you! Luminize - Feline Lucky!"  
  
"Parade Of Hundred Demons." said Schwarzschild.  
  
"We're with Danger World!"  
  
"I could be fighting for Dungeon World." noted Schwarzschild. "Of course, you aren't either. Charge and draw!"  
  
The pages of his core gadget book flipped rapidly as he drew. He snapped it shut with one hand while holding out a card with the other.  
  
"This is it, the finals of the Karras Cup!" said Sarah. "We're all excited to see fighters of this level clash with each other! Joining me for this fight is Cassie Gemini, Dave's opponent in the previous round!"  
  
"While I defeated him in our own fight, he simply wasn't destined to win." said Cassie. "I truly do admire his determination, and his love for his teammates, but I can't say what destiny has in store during these finals."  
  
"Eh? No prediction for this round?" said Sarah.  
  
Cassie shook her head. "These two would both wish to follow their own paths. I wouldn't tell someone their fortune if they asked me to let the future play out."  
  
"Soaring Flame Lindwurm, to the right position." said Schwarzschild. He flicked a card in his hand aside, and pulled a new one from his book. Lindwurm's dragonic form was somewhat indistinct, as they were constantly wreathed in flames.  
  
"Lindwurm's amazing ability allows the fighter to discard a card to draw a replacement, and it gives them an extra lifepoint!" commented Sarah.  
  
"Now, I call Ice Prisoner Emperor Cocytus Greed, to the center position." said Schwarzschild. "He allows me to take away one of your gauge cards, and gives one gauge card to me."  
  
"My gauge!" exclaimed Dave.  
  
"It's _my_ gauge now." said Cocytus Greed, the dragon lord pointing at the card that became a star and floated to his fighter's gauge.  
  
"Cocytus Greed, attack the fighter."  
  
The monster fixed his three unblinking eyes on Dave, and the floating hands holding his swords flew out. "And now your life will be mine!" said Cocytus, slashing at Dave with his many blades.  
  
"That will be all." said Schwarzschild, closing his core gadget to hold the book in one hand.  
  
"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"  
  
Life/Gauge/Hand  
8/1/6 | 11/4/4  
  
"Michael Schwarzschild takes a very cautious first turn, shuffling around resources." said Sarah. "Without the massive cost reduction from Dragon Demon Lord Arkdra's ability this match could flow very differently from their fight in last year's tournament."  
  


* * *

  
  
"Now you're playing at being a prince of Danger World instead." said Michael. "Now really, what would your mother think?" he added, with a chuckle.  
  
Dave stood in stunned silence, his eyes wide. He couldn't have said... he didn't...  
  
The monster standing his his center, the purple-scaled Dragon Demon Lord Arkdra, raised a hand to her mouth to deliver her own mocking laugh. "Ohohoho! He's all out of clever repartee!" she said, her other hand on the side of the mighty demon dragon who accompanied her everywhere.  
  
"Nyeh heh heh!" said Fate Skeleton, off at the side. Michael's skeletal buddy was as gleeful and incoherent as ever.  
  
"Oh? Still no quip?" said the older boy. "I didn't know you missed the power of Dungeon World that much."  
  
"It's not..." started Dave. He raised a fist, and continued, anger now showing in his voice. "How could you? You brought mom into this! And you're making fun of me for... for..."  
  
For being a boy now.  
  
"Now, now." said Michael, wagging a finger. "I have only the utmost respect for Lauria, Saviour of Vervayens Isle. Unlike some fighters I could mention."  
  
...Did he just not realise what he had said? Maybe he hadn't meant it that way. He must have just been taunting Dave about switching to a different World than he was raised to use.  
  
Dave shook his head. No. Michael Schwarzschild was always about cunning schemes and clever combos. He couldn't slip up like that and not mean it. He couldn't.  
  
"F-fun fact!" said Dave, deciding to keep trying his best to beat his (now former) friend. "It's my turn to draw, and even though my hand's empty, I've still got a powerful weapon and way more gauge than you! Draw!"  
  
He looked at the card he had just pulled from his staff core gadget. A Fanged Dragon Declaration? No, he had to prove he was better than _Schwarzschild_! And dealing a ton of damage would be better for that! Besides, it's not like he could afford Divine Protection of Shalsana, since he spent all his gauge last turn.  
  
"Dave, you need to think this..." said Emily on a screen that had popped up next to Dave. Eva stood beside her, in silence, raising a hand slightly as if asking permission to speak.  
  
"Fun fact, I got this!" said Dave, cutting Emily off as he dismissed the screen showing his two best friends. "Charge and draw!"  
  
A Drill Bunker! That's more like it! Everyone'd think he was so cool to win with it!  
  
"Final phase! Fun fact, you're out of gauge, so when I cast Drill Bunker -" said Dave, leaping forwards to strike at Arkdra.  
  
"Cast, Divine Protection Of Shalsana." said his opponent, cutting him off.  
  
"What? Hey!" said Dave, stopped dead in his tracks by a barrier of light. Behind it, he could see the reptilian lady, Arkdra, giving a wry smile.  
  
Behind her, in the shadow cast by Arkdra and his dragon, Dave saw the silhouette of Schwarzschild. Light reflected off his glasses, but Dave knew the Warlord was smirking.  
  


* * *

  
  
"Uh, Dave? He's up to something." I said. "I mean, something different from trying to get you too angry to think. Cocytus Greed is a size 2, and Lindwurm's a size 1."  
  
"Lelag Monarch only works with size 0 Dungeon World monsters." said Eva, bringing up the hypothetical decklist she and Emily had worked out, which had assumed use of Dungeon World's defensive size 0 monsters like Dragon Tooth Warrior.  
  
"And they're... yes, Ancient and Legend." said Emily, finding some entries for Hundred Demons in her notebook. "Whatever his deck is doing, it's not the same one he used last round."  
  
"Okay, I'll watch out for that. Draw! Charge and draw!" said Dave. "I cast Demon Slay Come Forth! Fun fact, this cool spell gives me a gauge, then I get to pick a Demon Slay card from the top three cards of my deck!"  
  
"It won't help you slay _my_ Hundred Demons." said Dave's opponent, as my teammate looked at the three cards he could choose from.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I pick Infinite Armament, Demonic Cradle 'A'!" said Dave, the other two cards dissolving. "And since one of the cards I didn't pick was Armorknight Eagle 'A', I can equip Demonic Cradle by putting Eagle in its soul!"  
  
The floating portal of Demonic Cradle was much larger than Dangerous Cradle's one. Armorknight Eagle 'A' was actually visible beyond it, when looking at it from the front - the large armored bird was preening his wings as he waited.  
  
"A soulguard item, and a monster who offers another layer of protection to it. How obvious." said the older boy. "Trying to avoid a repeat of our last fight, I suppose."  
  
"I'll call Armorknight Asura, to the right! And I'll use Asura's skill to put two cards from my deck to the dropzone, destroying your center monster!"  
  
"Arms Of Gold!" called out Asura. The armorknight, a red skinned man with three faces and many gold-armored hands holding weapons, tossed a barrage of many different knives at Cocytus Greed, destroying him.  
  
"The lifelink deals one point of damage!" said Sarah.  
  
"Fun fact, Demonic Cradle gains a critical for every card in its soul!" said Dave. "And each turn I can pay a gauge to add another 'A' card from my dropzone to it, as long as it's not the same as a card already inside the cradle! So I can add the Armorknight Buster Cerberus 'A' that Asura just sent to my dropzone! And that's not all!" he added, raising a finger while he grinned. "Buster Cerberus adds an extra critical for every card in the soul of my item - so that's five!"  
  
"Cerberus means that Demonic Cradle is now gaining two critical for every monster in its soul, instead of one." said Cassie, steepling her fingers as she smiled at the armored wolf and bird beyond the portal. "What a wonderful combination."  
  
"Dave's put together an amazingly strong weapon on the very first turn!" said Sarah.  
  
"Now I'll call Armorknight Battleborg to the left! Battleborg, attack the fighter!"  
  
"We are metal gods!" yelled Battleborg, firing his gun arm wildly in Schwarzschild's direction. The Warlord raised a hand to shield his eyes.  
  
"Now your turn, Asura!" said Dave, the many arms of his monster swinging weapons wildly. "Fun fact, my Demonic Cradle does something really cool later, but with only two cards in the soul all I can do is attack normally!" he said, leaping forwards for his own attack.  
  
"Cast, Scorn of Gremlin!" said Schwarzschild, a grinning green figure intercepting the attack. "I'm afraid that's as far as you're going to get."  
  
"Scorn of Gremlin is a wonderful spell card that prevents one attack from a lone item or monster." said Cassie. "Although I must admit I had started using Star Dragon World by the time the Hundred Demons came into common use."  
  
"That's right, you were using that Star deck with Castor and Pollux." said Sarah, nodding along. "Your Medusa Shield spell card may have been more versatile, but the gauge cost is one that makes many players think twice before putting it in a deck. On the other hand, Scorn Of Gremlin has no casting cost, making it a staple of both Legend World and Hundred Demon decks."  
  
"Then I'll have to end my turn." said Dave.  
  
"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"  
  
Life/Gauge/Hand  
7/0/4 | 6/4/3  
  
"Draw. Charge and draw. Oh, how fortuitous. I call Bloody Chainsaw Dragon, to the left position."  
  
The bipedal dragon had dark scales, red armor and (true to his name) a huge chainsaw, which he revved up with a gleefully malevolent laugh.  
  
"Guiding Demon Dyingas, to the center position."  
  
Dyingas, a purple demon lord with two sets of horns, stood up from the crouching position he had appeared in, his cloak fluttering dramatically. One short pair of his horns protruded from his forehead. The other pair was a little further back, much longer and curving backwards over an elaborate golden ornament fixed to the collar of his cloak. Like Lelag Monarch, he held a staff in one of his hands, though the head of this one was set with an irregular pattern of bluish-purple jewels.  
  
"I've risen from the dungeons of hell to battle!" said Dyingas, meeting Dave's gaze with his unblinking yellow eyes. "I return two cards from the dropzone to the gauge in preparation for the final conflict!"  
  
"A Dungeon World monster! Wow, cool horns!" said Dave, the demon nodding in acknowledgement. "Fun fact, I kind of expected you to have more Dungeon Enemies. I mean, considering..."  
  
Dave's opponent scowled, and interrupted him. "Cast, Hundred Demons Sorcery, Death Sacrifice!"  
  
Lindwurm, Dyingas and Bloody Chainsaw Dragon cried out in surprise as they began dissolving from the feet upwards.  
  
"Whoa! Did Michael just destroy all of his own monsters?" asked Sarah. "A really surprising move from the Warlord!"  
  
"Death Sacrifice lets me throw away every monster on my field, and draw a card for each." said Schwarzschild, four cards shooting out from his core gadget.  
  
"But you just drew four cards!" objected Dave.  
  
"Oh? Did I not tell you about Bloody Chainsaw's effect? How _rude_ of me. When he's destroyed by a card effect, I draw one additional card." said Schwarzschild. "Now I call Dragon Knight Pisaro to the center position, and rest him to draw yet another card."  
  
"The rewards for our bloody history are clear!" laughed the red-haired dragon knight sitting atop a dragon, both of them wearing golden armor. "More gold! More wealth for the conquerors!"  
  
"I equip the Burst Claw, Raijin." he said, holding up an arm while a gauntlet materialized over it. The weapon resembled the head of Yamigedo - horns running down the side, eye-like protrusions running up the middle and four glowing orange claws emerging from the 'mouth'.  
  
"Burst Claw Raijin is a powerful Hundred Demons item that allows the fighter to attack over a center monster!" said Sarah. "It also nullifies the penetrate effect for all of an opponent's cards!"  
  
"I'm not even going to try to guess what you're up to now." said Dave. "Destroying your monsters, leaving yourself with none of them to attack? Fun fact, it's getting kinda weird."  
  
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." said Schwarzschild, wagging a finger on his now-clawed hand. "It wouldn't be the finals unless I kept something special in reserve. After all, I certainly didn't need my next card to score an easy win in any fight up until now."  
  
"Except against Nat." Dave pointed out. "Fun fact, I'm pretty sure you'd still lose to her, whatever this is."  
  
"We shall see. For after we've won this tournament, I intend to challenge her for leadership again. And this time, even with her buddy's new forms, I won't be easy prey. I buddy call to the center position."  
  
"Lelag Monarch?" said Dave. "Fun fact, we've all seen Lelag Monarch!"  
  
"Monarch? No. This is Lelag _Imperios_." chuckled his foe, spreading his arms wide. "To be precise? The Uprising Death Warlord, Lelag Imperios!"  
  
Lelag let out a shriek of laughter as he began changing. The horns on his mask grew, and grew, and grew. Now curving in on themselves multiple times, like oversized ram horns. The faceplate of his mask extended upwards, too, forming into a silver crown-like shape on his head that was dotted with multiple copies of the jewel formerly set on his forehead. He floated forwards, turning his skull-shaped staff towards Pisaro. Unlike before, where it just spat purple fire, this time it seemed to... suck Pisaro into it? The knight screamed as he was pulled in, dragon and all. The purple flames returned to the eyes and mouth of his staff as he took up the center position of the field.  
  
"First of all, Lelag Imperios adds a monster on my field into his soul. That Dragon Knight should be honored to serve his lord so directly." said the Warlord. Well, the human one. "Now, every Hundred Demon that would be size 1 is size 0 instead."  
  
"So that's why you called all those size one monsters!" said Dave, snapping his fingers. "But you've been hiding this even from your own team?"  
  
"Of course. What kind of buddyfighter would show weakness by revealing every new form their buddy can take to teammates? I didn't take over the Warlords before by being _nice_."  
  
"You didn't take over them for very long. Fun fact, Nat..."  
  
"Tsk tsk." said Schwarzschild. "Idle chit-chat can wait until we've gotten through the important parts of this fight. I call Odd Bird Harpy to the left, adding a card to my gauge. And when we move into the attack phase, my buddy has another surprise."  
  
"Rise, my minion!" cried out Lelag. Bloody Chainsaw Dragon clawed his way out of the ground, taking up the right position.  
  
"Every time my attack phase starts, Lelag Imperios revives a Hundred Demons monster." smirked Schwarzschild. "Now, Harpy! Destroy Asura!"  
  
Harpy, a woman in golden armor and a full-face helmet, swooped up into the air on the vibrant rainbow-colored wings that she had in place of arms. Much like I had seen Eva's Murder Crow do a few times, Harpy attacked with her taloned feet from above Dave's monster. Asura flailed with his many arms to no avail, as the screeching bird-woman clawed at his face. Afterwards, she flew back to her proper position, leaving a trail of brightly-colored feathers in her wake.  
  
"Bloody Chainsaw, attack the fighter."  
  
"I'm all revved up! Let's cut to the chase!" shouted the dragon, slamming his whirring chainsaw into Dave.  
  
"Whenever Lelag Imperios attacks, another effect occurs." said Schwarzschild.  
  
Lelag cackled, blasting the dragon and harpy apart with flames from his skull staff. The flames then vanished as the staff sucked in a glowing card from his buddy's deck, a second card flying off to the gauge.  
  
"To put it simply, he destroys my other monsters to give me one lifepoint and one gauge card. And gains a soul card for himself, of course."  
  
"Fun fact, I know about Chainsaw Dragon this time." said Dave.  
  
His opponent pushed up his glasses. "This won't exactly be new to you either."  
  
"Nemesis Crown!" shrieked out Lelag, blasting Dave with a barrage of purple fireballs.  
  
"Cast, Shadow Crusader!" said Dave, a shadowy figure in golden armor appearing to sweep the fireballs off-target with a wave of his hand. "Fun fact, your buddy's new effects are really strong, but his attack is the same as before! I'm betting it's still a penetrate attack with three critical, so fun fact? My spell puts your damage down to zero!"  
  
"Dave sends more cards to his dropzone to avoid taking damage!" said Sarah. "Will this put another 'A' monster in the right place for his weapon?"  
  
"No matter. Three lifepoints left, and you've barely scratched mine. I suppose we can all see the difference between a rare Demon Lord buddy, and a common Armorknight."  
  


* * *

  
  
"Thanks for helping me try out my decks, Dave." said Emily. "It's fun to build them, but I can't really test them by myself."  
  
Dave grinned, and gave a thumbs up. "No problem! I couldn't say no to the cutest girl I know asking for my help!"  
  
Emily giggled. "Anyway, I've got plenty of notes to work from, even if there were some worlds neither of us could use very well." she said, turning the pages in her notebook. "Katana isn't exactly a good fit for either of us, although at least we did better than Ancient World."  
  
Dave laughed. "Hero was pretty fun, though. But fun fact, if I ever switch from Dungeon to any of those? It's gotta be Danger!" he said, raising a fist.  
  
"I do have some ideas for new Danger decks." said Emily, stopping on a page with some deck ratios written out for Armorknights, Tyrants and Duel Dragons. "And knowing you, you'll want an open center deck."  
  
"Yeah! Danger World users almost always fight side-by-side with their monsters, and only a few Dungeon World decks can do that!" said Dave. "Fun fact, Armorknights are just as tough as Knights, but they're awesome cyborgs! And fun fact, that Armorknight Sphinx you set as the buddy is the coolest Danger World monster I've seen!"  
  
"Really? You mean it?" said a voice from below the two kids.  
  
Dave looked around. "Huh? Who said that?"  
  
"Down here!"  
  
Dave looked down. "A... cat?"  
  
The cat puffed out his cheeks, looking offended. "I'm not a cat, I'm a Sphinx! Armorknight Sphinx!"  
  
"You're the Armorknight Sphinx we've been calling for my deck testing?" asked Emily, squatting down so she could talk to the monster without looking down at him so much.  
  
"Yeah! I know I look a lot more impressive when I'm fighting, but that's me!" said Armorknight Sphinx.  
  
"But you're so tiny like this!" said Dave, grinning. He patted the monster on the top of his headdress. "Fun fact, it's really cute!"  
  
"I'm not cute! I'm cool, like you said before!" said the Sphinx.  
  
"Fun fact, you can be cool and cute at the same time!" said Dave. "Just look at Emily!" he said gesturing to his friend, who giggled. "Or hey, look at me!" he said with a wink.  
  


* * *

  
  
"[Winner: Dave Vervayens.]"  
  
"You did it, Dave! Oh, and you too, Armorknight Sphinx!" said Emily. She crossed off some cards in her notebook. "Maybe Shadow Shades aren't for me, but you really worked well together!"  
  
"You know what? I'm sorry for calling you a cat." said Dave, crouching down. "Fun fact, you looked pretty sphinx-y there!" he added, grinning.  
  
"So we're gonna be buddies?" asked the newly-named Sphinxy.  
  
"Yeah! And I promise I'll put as much into being the best buddy I can!" said Dave. He winked, lifting one of his buddy's front paws in a sort-of handshake. "And fun fact, I never break promises!"  
  


* * *

  
  
"So what if my buddy isn't an emperor, or a king!" said Dave, defiantly staring down Schwarzschild. "Fun fact, I still really care about him! We're always having fun together, and that's what Buddyfight is all about! Whether he's wolfing down chocolate bars, or doing that thing where he twitches his ears, or even when he's trying to impress cute girls!"  
  
"Hey! You're always trying to show off for cute girls as well!" said Sphinxy, sticking out his tongue.  
  
Dave laughed. "Not always girls, but that's not the point. What I'm saying is that it doesn't matter if he's some lord, and it doesn't matter that he's not from Dungeon World - he's my buddy!"  
  
"Oh? And I suppose _having fun_ in your fights will get your friend that fight with our leader." said Schwarzschild. "After all, you've lost the only tournament fight you took part in this time. You're not going to win this one, either. It will be myself that dashes your hopes of victory, and my buddy will grant me unlimited power in return!"  
  
"Unlimited _energy_." insisted his buddy.  
  
"Does it matter?" said Schwarzschild, smirking.  
  
"Of course it matters! Everything I say matters!" said the demon lord in his shrill voice. "My revenge will be complete, and I shall once again have unlimited energy!"  
  
"Wait, revenge?" said Dave. "Fun fact, I didn't even manage to hit you last time, let alone destroy you!"  
  
"That's not what this is about, _Vervayens_! Your mother's buddy made a grave mistake not repaying his debt to me those thousands of years ago, and that debt has transferred to you!"  
  
"His... debt?" said Dave, puzzled.  
  
"Thousands of years ago, before I joined Yamigedo as one of the Hundred Demons, I gave an item of great power to Joker Grunwald!" said the Death Master, raising his staff above his head dramatically. "He has yet to return my _Decanter Of The Mountain Springs_!"  
  
Dave snorted, then doubled over, arms around himself as he laughed loudly.  
  
"What's so funny?" asked Schwarzschild.  
  
Dave kept laughing a while longer, then finally pulled himself together enough to answer. "Come on, don't you remember Joker's most prized magic item? It's that enchanted bottle of Mountain Dew!"  
  
Schwarzschild blinked in surprise. "Wait, _that's_ what this is about? Joker Grunwald, and by extension the family of his buddy, owes you an ultimate debt in the form of a _soft drink_?"  
  
"It's not just a soft drink!" shrieked Lelag, slamming his staff into the ground. "It's an _endless supply_ of it! It's one of the Grand Relics of Dungeon World! Enemin Alpha and Bunny Call are mere imitations, diet versions, so-called 'new and improved' recipes!" he cried out, stamping his feet.  
  
"Fun fact, you could have just asked us?" said Dave. "I don't think Grunwald even remembers he borrowed it from you. I mean, it was thousands of years ago and I think you were sealed away for most of that?"  
  
"Eh? I suppose you could be right." conceded the demon lord, stopping in the middle of a stomp. "Maybe he really has forgotten who gave him it. But the fact remains that you must repay part of this debt too! If not with that elixir, then with your humiliation, or your blood!"  
  
"Fun fact, I will literally _buy you a soda_ after this fight." said Dave. "There're vending machines just outside the buddy pits."  
  
"This was all about _soda_?" said the Warlord, his glasses sliding down his nose as he stared at his buddy. "Becoming my buddy... pushing me to humiliate him... this was all for some _carbonated drink_?"  
  
"Well, when you put it _that way_ it sounds stupid." said his buddy, waving his hands above his head. "I don't know what petty reasons _you_ have for going along with this either, but you don't find _me_ laughing at them!"  
  
Dave smiled, and held up a finger. "Fun fact, demon lords live so long that they get obsessed with all kinds of weird stuff. Soda is pretty normal compared to Joker Grunwald always trying to form a glam-rock band." He looked a little thoughtful. "Although that one with the tin golems had a pretty cool sound."  
  
"...I'll attack the fighter." said Schwarzschild, readying his claw as he tried to restore some semblance of sanity to the conversation. "My claw, Raijin, allows me to attack even with Lelag on my center position."  
  
He floated forwards, slashing Dave across the face with his weapon while he sneered with contempt.  
  
"Now, that's all for my turn."  
  
"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"  
  
Life/Gauge/Hand  
3/0/3 | 8/4/3  
  
"Draw! Charge and draw!" said Dave. "Here we go - I cast Dangerous Bed Of Damage! It destroys your monster and gives me gauge equal to its size! Fun fact, that's three!" he said, holding up three fingers.  
  
Lelag Imperios was pulled downwards into the same electrical trap Dave had used on my sister's buddy when they had fought. The Demon Lord seemed fairly unconcerned to be destroyed by it.  
  
"I revive with soulguard!" cackled Lelag. "You won't be rid of us _that_ easily!"  
  
"I'll buddy call Armorknight Sphinx 'A' to the right!" said Dave. "Sphinxy, move into the soul of my item!"  
  
"You got it, Dave!" said Sphinxy. Dave's buddy leapt into the slowly-rotating portal, taking place alongside the eagle and wolf already present. "Hey, there's a lot more room in here than Dangerous Cradle!"  
  
"Now my Cradle has three cards in soul!" said Dave. "And fun fact, this is where it starts getting more effects! Buster Cerberus gives it penetrate!"  
  
Schwarzschild chuckled, and held up his claw as he smirked darkly. "Did you already forget that my weapon nullifies penetrate? How foolish."  
  
"Urk! You're right!" said Dave. "But still, it's got 12000 power and 6 critical! And I can still call Armorknight Black Drake 'A', to the right!"  
  
The flamethrower-wielding cyborg dragon appeared on his field. It was strange to be reminded of my first fight with Dave, the very first time I met him. I vaguely recalled equipping my own Danger World weapon and calling a Black Drake myself. I felt even more glad to have found a deck that matched my own fighting style anywhere near as well as he had mastered Danger World.  
  
"Since I've got three cards in my weapon's soul, he's size 0 and has Double Attack! Black Drake, use your first attack on Lelag!"  
  
Black Drake's flamethrower shot out a gout of flame. But the purple flames from Lelag Imperios' staff seemed to intensify, pushing away the fire that Black Drake's weapon was spewing out.  
  
"Pathetic." said Schwarzschild, holding out a card. "The Hundred Demons Sorcery Pathetic, that is. All of your cards lose 2000 power, until your turn ends."  
  
"Amazing! With Black Drake's power only at 6000, the Armorknight can't get past Lelag Imperios' 7000 defense!" said Sarah.  
  
Cassie nodded. "Only Dave's weapon has enough power to slay the demon lord without using a link attack. I wouldn't foresee him doing that, as his Demonic Cradle can't deal Penetrate damage."  
  
"Battleborg and Black Drake, link attack!"  
  
The combined power of Battleborg's gun-arm and the flames from Black Drake 'A' destroyed Lelag, who reformed with a shrieking cackle.  
  
"Dave chooses to have his monsters link attack! Both of them have Double Attack, but Black Drake's already used up one of his!" said Sarah.  
  
"Raijin nullifies the penetrate of Black Drake's attack." said Schwarzschild, clawing aside the lingering flames. "And my buddy remains on the field with Soulguard."  
  
"Then I'll attack Lelag with my weapon!" said Dave, pointing his staff at the Demon Lord. "Come on! Sphinxy, everyone!"  
  
"Yeah! Let's do it!" said his buddy, joining the other Armorknights inside the floating portal in firing their weapons at Lelag, who was blown apart by the gunfire.  
  
"I hate to repeat myself, but? _Pathetic_." said Schwarzschild, holding up his claw again. "My buddy's lifelink deals 3 damage to me. That's more than your futile attacks have this turn."  
  
"Battleborg, attack the fighter with your double attack!"  
  
"Metal Hammer!" called out the robot, swinging his steel fist down to attack.  
  
"You've wasted all but one card in your hand." chided Schwarzschild. "More of your good luck, squandered on a pointless endeavour. I wonder if one shield will be enough to protect your lifepoints, or if you'll gamble on your buddy again."  
  
"I'll end my move." said Dave, clenching a fist in frustration.  
  
"[End Of Move]. [Your Move]"  
  
Life/Gauge/Hand  
4/2/1 | 3/4/2  
  
"Draw. Charge and draw. I'll cast the Hundred Demons Sorcery, Raijogeki." said Schwarzschild. "Lindwurm and Chainsaw Dragon return to my hand."  
  
"You don't need a crystal ball to predict how long _they'll_ stick around." said Sarah.  
  
"I call Soaring Flame Lindwurm to the left position, and discard Bloody Chainsaw Dragon. This adds one to my life, and my hand." said Schwarzschild. "Then, I will call A Nameless Valkyrie, to the center position."  
  
A pale woman appeared, standing by a human-sized crow. Unlike Dennis' golden-armored valkyrie, this one was wearing tarnished silver. All that was visible of her pale skin was her mouth, her grey hair and faceplate obscuring the rest.  
  
"My crow." she said, in a croaking whisper that somehow carried across the entire arena. "Speak the names of the forgotten dead."  
  
The crow cawed loudly, spitting out a glowing card.  
  
"When I call her, I can pay one lifepoint to add any size 3 monster from my dropzone to my hand." said Schwarzschild, snatching the card out of the air in his claw, before flinging it back out. "My buddy, Lelag Imperios, return to me. I call you to the center position."  
  
The demon lord shrieked with laughter as he reformed. "Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me!"  
  
"We shall serve." said the valkyrie, kneeling as Lelag absorbed her (and her crow) into his skull staff.  
  
"I will call Black Dragon Befreien to the left position, retiring Lindwurm." said Schwarzschild, as a spiky humanoid dragon appeared. There was a hole in its chest that seemed to contain a brightly-burning flame. "Now I move into the attack phase, and Lelag Imperios revives Bloody Chainsaw Dragon to the right position."  
  
"Wakey wakey! It's time for a death march!" shrieked Lelag, slamming his staff into the ground. Bloody Chainsaw Dragon clawed his way to the surface once again.  
  
"This is getting real old, real fast." said the dragon, brushing dirt off his scales.  
  
"Befreien, attack Black Drake." said Schwarzschild.  
  
"Huh? Befreien only has 1000 attack points to Black Drake's 5000 defense!" said Sarah. "Does the Warlord know something we don't?"  
  
Befreien sunk its own claws into its chest, then pulled them out to reveal that they were now glowing with the same heat. The dragon swung its arms through the air, the claw swipes shooting out as orange projectiles that tore Black Drake apart.  
  
"Black Dragon Befreien's effect destroys any monster it attacks, no matter what their defense points are." said Cassie. "I haven't built many Darkness Dragon World decks, though I have talked to Team Hotline about their own decks over a nice cup of coffee." she explained.  
  
"Oh, I see! So it's like Dungeon World's Stein Blade Joker." said Sarah. "That does explain the low stats of the card, but I guess you don't need high attack power for an amazing effect like that to be useful!"  
  
"Bloody Chainsaw Dragon, attack the fighter."  
  
"Got my motor running again! Hahaha!" shouted the dragon, revving up his weapon.  
  
"I'll use my buddy's special ability!" said Dave, his lifepoints ticking down by 1 to pay for it. "Fun fact, we play rock-paper-scissors, and if I win I can stop your attack and deal a point of damage to you!"  
  
"Tsk, you really are going to gamble with this. Very well." said Schwarzschild. "Paper!"  
  
"Oh no!" said Dave, his own throw of rock being defeated by it. The dragon's chainsaw struck him again, leaving him with only two lifepoints.  
  
"The effect of Armorknight Sphinx 'A' fails to stop this attack! Dave gets one lifepoint back for his trouble." said Sarah.  
  
"Lelag Imperios, you can have the honor of finishing him off. But first, use your effect."  
  
"You've both failed me for the last time!" cackled Lelag, incinerating his two minions. He looked pensive for a moment as his skull staff ate another card from the deck. "Although I suppose Befreien did do what we asked. If I don't revive it, I'll have to send its family a gift basket."  
  
"Chainsaw's effect allows me to draw another card." said Schwarzschild. "Now, it's time for the curtain call. Any last words?"  
  
"Just one - Rock!" called out Dave, using his buddy's effect.  
  
"I see." said his opponent, looking at his own throw of scissors. Sphinxy fired a blast from his railgun, knocking his lifepoints down by 1.  
  
"You'll have to get your hands dirty yourself!" shrieked Lelag, apparently enjoying the opportunity to laugh at his buddy.  
  
"That can be arranged." said Schwarzschild, holding up his crackling orange claw of energy as if inspecting his nails. He began walking towards Dave, a slow and menacing pace.  
  
"Guys, I've got one card in my hand, and I've not got enough life to use Sphinxy's effect." said Dave, calling up a screen to talk to us. "There's no way I'll be able to get through his defences next turn, too. Fun fact, even I'm not confident this'll. So if it doesn't work out, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to trust to sheer dumb luck again."  
  
"David." said Eva. "Throw Paper."  
  
Dave seemed a little surprised, but smiled at her. "...You're sure?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Are you done apologising to your teammates for failing? Then I'll attack, and strike you down with my own hand." said Schwarzschild, raising his claw in the air to strike. "This is the end for you, David!"  
  
"Cast! Double Guillotine!" said Dave. "When a weapon is attacking me directly, I can destroy it!"  
  
Schwarzschild staggered backwards, holding the claw aside as it dissolved. He gave the broken weapon a look of disdain. "Stalling for time, are we? All you have left is your weapon. Even if you draw another monster..."  
  
"I know you've probably got something in your hand that can stop my weapon. So even if this buys me another turn, there's not much I can do to actually attack you." said Dave. "Double Guillotine's a gamble card, but fun fact? The stakes are a lot higher than my buddy's effect! We play rock-paper-scissors until there's a winner, and if that winner is me then you'll take damage equal to the critical of my weapon!"  
  
"For those keeping track at home, that's six whole lifepoints of damage on the line!" said Sarah.  
  
"A coin-flip chance for a victory. How childish." said Schwarzschild. "This really is the only way you can hope to defeat me."  
  
"No way!" said Dave. "Fun fact, Emily put this card in my deck for a reason! And, an even more fun fact, Eva has told me exactly what I need to throw to win here!" he said, pointing his core gadget staff at his opponent.  
  
"What!" exclaimed Schwarzschild, in absolute disbelief.  
  
"That's right! This isn't a coinflip at all!" said Dave. "Because I trust my friends completely, and if anyone can predict your move, it's them!" he grinned. "So tell me - feeling lucky?"  
  
"That analyst girl, she's with the newspaper club." muttered Schwarzschild. "Which means she's been collecting data on fighters, which means she'll know all our statistics, which means... what did I throw last?" he said, staring at his hands. He called up a screen to talk to his teammates. "Tess! What did I throw last?!?"  
  
"What, too scared to play rock-paper-scissors?" taunted Dave.  
  
"Useless girl!" said the Warlord, dismissing the screen with a sharp slice of his glove. "Fine! We shall have your game!"  
  
They stared at each other for a long moment. Then, they made their choices.  
  
"Paper!" shouted Dave, holding out the mechanical arm that had appeared.  
  
"Rock!" shouted Schwarzschild, in the same instant. Dave's throw shattered his.  
  
"No... No!" said Schwarzschild, his eyes wide in shock. "Did I make some pattern in my throws? Are they cheating? They must be cheating! They must be!"  
  
His tone became angrier - not the cold, haughty mock-disdain from before, but genuine outrage. "You must have manipulated me somehow! How dare you! Manipulating people like that just to win buddyfights! There's no other way you could have been so sure!"  
  
"Eva, how _did_ you know?" asked Dave, a wide grin on his face as he called the screen back up.  
  
"I didn't." she said, flatly.  
  
"Huh?" said Emily and myself, in unison.  
  
"You were bluffing?" laughed Dave.  
  
"You were trying your hardest." said Eva, in her neutral tone. "I didn't want you to blame yourself."  
  
"A _bluff_?" said Schwarzschild. "You _tricked_ me?"  
  
"You bet we did! And since you lost that game, fun fact?" said Dave, turning to his opponent and pointing his core gadget directly at his face. "I get to use my weapon's full critical against you! Here we come!"  
  
"Tsk. All this time, all this effort... and I'm going to be defeated by you and your _cat_?"  
  
"Nope. Because, fun fact?" said Dave. "He's a Sphinx."  
  
The Armorknights inside the portal let out a triumphant yell, firing everything they had at Schwarzschild as his life ticked all the way down to 0. The Parade of Hundred Demons flag, all the way on the other side of the fight stage, shattered.  
  
"[Winner: Dave Vervayens.]"  
  
"It's not fair!" shrieked Schwarzschild, tearing at his hair as he stomped the ground. "Your accursed luck... how dare you waste it like that! It should be me! It should be _me_! Lelag, do something!"  
  
Lelag looked around awkwardly, and handed his skull staff to his buddy, who started slamming it into the ground in fury.  
  
"You're nothing without me, you hear that? _Nothing_!" screamed Schwarzschild as he pointed at Dave, all pretense of calm and civility gone.  
  
"That's... quite an outburst from the loser of this matchup." said Sarah. "He really isn't taking this well, but there's still another round for the Warlords to live up to their fearsome reputation, instead of... yeah."  
  
Cassie smiled, tilting her head as he put her hands together. "I'm very excited to see this next fight, but I feel I should be with my team in the stands now. Thank you for letting me commentate." she said, standing up to leave.  
  
"Didn't you say, 'this is the end for you'?" said Dave. "Fun fact, it is - because now I've won, and I can sit out in the buddy pit to watch my good friend Timo beating down your boss! Just like you agreed!"  
  
"Well, it's such a shame." said Schwarzschild, ceasing his tantrum and speaking in his usual calm tone. He raised a hand to smooth back his hair, and handed the staff to his buddy, continuing as if his earlier outburst had never happened as he walked back to his side of the stage. "Unfortunately any pre-match discussion we may or may not have had wouldn't be binding. My team might still choose to put Tess forward for the fight. Or perhaps we will send Natasha, as I originally said. It's a mystery."  
  
"You..." started Dave. He shook his head "I can't believe you. Seriously?"  
  
The Warlord smirked at Dave. "You enjoy gambling with your deck so much. So just think of it as another fun game. Why, you've got even odds, just like your buddy's effect. Surely you don't mind-"  
  
Natasha interrupted him by leaping out of the stands. She landed next to Schwarzschild and broke her fall by briefly activating her buddy skill of red gauntlets, slamming a hand into the ground. She switched off the buddy skill, and stood up to her full height.  
  
"Get out." she snarled at Schwarzschild, glowering at him with an expression of sheer rage. " _Out_!" she repeated.  
  
He gulped and nodded his head, immediately fleeing into the air with his skates.  
  
Nat stood tall on her team's side of the stage, arms crossed. She glared silently as she gave an almost-respectful nod to Dave, but the intent was clear - she was challenging me to fight her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Infinite Armament, Demonic Cradle "A"  
> Danger World|Battle Aura/Demon Slay/Weapon  
> Item|6000/1  
> [Equip Cost] [Put a card from your drop zone into this card's soul & Pay 1 gauge & Pay 1 life]  
> [Act] Pay 1 gauge. If you do, put a card with "A" in its card name that does not have the name of a card in this card's soul from your drop zone into this card's soul. You may only use this ability once per turn.  
> This card gets power+2000 and critical+1 for each card in its soul.  
> When this card is attacking alone, if there are three or more cards in this card's soul, its attack cannot be nullified.  
> [Soulguard]
> 
> Uprising Death Warlord, Lelag Imperios  
> Dungeon World|Demon Lord/Dungeon Enemy/Hundred Demons  
> S3/8000/3/7000  
> [Call Cost] [Put a monster on your field into this card's soul & Pay 2 gauge]  
> Size 1 «Hundred Demons» on your field become size 0.  
> At the beginning of your attack phase, you may call a size 1 or less «Hundred Demons» from your drop zone without paying its [Call Cost].  
> When this card attacks, you may destroy up to two other monsters on your field. If you destroyed one or more, put the top card of your deck into this card's soul, and gain 1 life. Then, if you destroyed two or more, draw a card.  
> [Penetrate] [Soulguard] [Lifelink 3]

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [BuddyFight - Strongest Fighter!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15642630) by [Marx_Draconis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marx_Draconis/pseuds/Marx_Draconis)




End file.
